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Chocolate Creams I

Chocolate cream balls coated in melted chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Creams I

Ingredients

Directions

Make the centres

  1. Combine the egg, cold water, and vanilla in a bowl. Beat until well blended.

  2. Gradually add the confectioner's sugar while stirring constantly.

  3. Make small balls and drop them onto slightly buttered paper.

  4. Let stand for one hour.

Coat and set

  1. Melt the chocolate in a saucepan over hot water. Beat the melted chocolate for one minute.

  2. Dip each ball into the melted chocolate using a two-tined fork or confectioner's dipper.

  3. Remove the coated balls to slightly buttered paper. Reheat chocolate as necessary.

  4. Let the chocolate harden in a cool, dry place.

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. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Vanilla + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Chocolate + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,543 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

Confectioner's sugar
Forms the bulk of the soft, sweet centre that holds the balls together.
Egg
Binds the sugar into a smooth, cohesive paste for shaping.
Walter baker & co.'s dot chocolate
Forms the glossy, hardening outer coating once melted and set.

The step that matters

Let the chocolate harden in a cool, dry place. Chocolate sets firm and glossy only when cool and dry; moisture or warmth can leave it dull, soft, or streaked with bloom.

“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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