Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Malt Gems
Ingredients
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.
Make the batter
Chill the water until very cold.
Dissolve the nut butter in the cold water, adding it gradually.
Stir in the malt extract.
Gradually beat in the all-purpose flour and graham flour until smooth.
Finally, fold in the well-beaten eggs.
Bake
Pour the batter into hot gem irons and bake at 400°F (200°C) for nearly an hour.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Malt + flourtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together260 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + malttop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together93 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set in the oven.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure of the batter once baked.
- Graham flour
- Adds body and a coarser, nutty texture to the batter.
- Nut butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the cake a tender crumb.
- Malt extract
- Adds sweetness and a distinct malty flavor.
The step that matters
Fold in the eggs gently. Eggs are added last so the batter stays light; overbeating after adding them can toughen the crumb and reduce tenderness, while the eggs set the structure during baking.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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