Name: Cocoanut Puffs
Ingredients: 2 cups shredded coconut; 1 cup powdered sugar; 2 egg whites, beaten; 2 tablespoons flour or cornstarch

Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓

Cocoanut Puffs

Ingredients

2 cups shredded coconut
1 cup powdered sugar
2 egg whites, beaten
2 tablespoons flour or cornstarch

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make and bake

In a bowl, mix the shredded coconut, powdered sugar, beaten egg whites, and flour or cornstarch.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto buttered baking sheets.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Coconut + flourtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,315 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Coconut + sugartop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,742 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Shredded coconut: Provides the main body and chewy texture of the puffs.
Powdered sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the puffs brown in the oven.
Egg whites: Bind the mixture and give the puffs lift and structure as they set.
Flour or cornstarch: Absorbs moisture and helps the puffs hold their shape while baking.