Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Chocolate Kisses
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Pound the chocolate and sift it finely.
Make and bake
In a bowl, mix the sugar and chocolate with the beaten egg whites until well combined.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto buttered paper.
Bake slowly until set.
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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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Chocolate + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Sweetens the kisses and, with the egg whites, helps give them a crisp, dry structure once baked.
- Chocolate
- Provides flavour and colour; finely sifted so it blends evenly into the batter.
- Egg whites
- Whipped structure that sets as the kisses bake, holding the shape and giving a light, airy texture.
The step that matters
Bake slowly until set. Low, slow heat dries the meringue-like mixture from the outside in, so it sets without browning or cracking. Too hot an oven can colour or crack the kisses before the centre firms.
“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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