Why it works: Almond and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,245 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Almond Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the candy
In a porcelain-lined kettle, combine molasses and brown sugar.
Set the kettle over medium heat and boil for about 3 hours.
Just before removing from heat, stir in the butter (if using).
Add the almonds and mix well.
Pull and shape
For light-colored candy, separate some mixture and finely chop some almonds.
While warm, pull the candy at arm's length until light yellow or straw-colored.
Twist and cut the pulled candy into sticks.
Butter flat pans and pour the remaining candy into them.
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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Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- West india molasses
- Provides the dark color, deep sweetness and chewy body of the candy.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the candy set firm as it cools.
- Blanched almonds
- Add crunch and nutty flavor that contrast with the chewy candy.
The step that matters
Pull the candy while it is still warm. Working the warm candy at arm's length stretches the sugar mass, traps air and lightens its color. Once it cools too far it stiffens and becomes hard to pull.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, butter, egg):
- Almondthe original
- Pecansfits about as well
- Walnutfits less well
- Nutsfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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