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Dessert

Almond Candy

A sweet confection made from molasses, brown sugar, almonds, and optional butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Almond Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy

  1. In a porcelain-lined kettle, combine molasses and brown sugar.

  2. Set the kettle over moderate heat and let it boil for about 3 hours.

  3. Just before removing from heat, stir in the butter (if using).

  4. Add the almonds and mix well.

Pull and shape

  1. For light-colored candy, separate some mixture and finely chop some almonds.

  2. While warm, pull the candy at arm's length until it turns light yellow or straw-color.

  3. Twist the pulled candy and cut it into sticks.

  4. Butter flat pans and pour the remaining candy into them.

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.

  1. Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

West india molasses
Provides the dark color, deep flavor and sweetness that form the candy's base.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the candy set firm as the mixture cooks down.
Blanched almonds
Add crunch and nutty flavor that contrast with the chewy, pulled candy.

The step that matters

Pulling the candy while warm. Pulling works only while the mixture is still warm and pliable. As it cools it stiffens and cannot be stretched, and the air incorporated during pulling is what lightens its color and texture.

“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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