Name: Nun's Butter
Ingredients: ¼ pound butter, softened; 3 to 4 ounces powdered sugar; 1 tablespoon brandy; 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg or ¼ teaspoon powdered cinnamon

Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Nun's Butter

Ingredients

¼ pound butter, softened
3 to 4 ounces powdered sugar
1 tablespoon brandy
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg or ¼ teaspoon powdered cinnamon

Directions

Beat the softened butter and powdered sugar together until creamy.
Add the brandy and mix well.
Flavor with vanilla extract, nutmeg, or cinnamon as desired.

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 + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Brandy + vanillatop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,050 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,127 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Butter: Provides richness and a creamy, spreadable body that carries the other flavors.
Powdered sugar: Sweetens the butter and dissolves smoothly, giving the spread a fine, creamy texture.
Brandy: Adds a sharp, warming aroma and flavor that sets the sauce apart from plain butter.

“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.