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Dessert

Peanut Crisps

A sweet, crunchy snack made from sugar, molasses, peanuts, butter, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Peanut Crisps

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy

  1. Combine molasses, sugar, and water in a kettle.

  2. Cook until a spoonful dropped in water can be rolled into a firm ball.

  3. Add the peanuts and boil for five more minutes.

  4. Remove from heat.

  5. Add butter, and stir slowly until melted.

  6. Add baking soda and stir quickly.

Pour and set

  1. When it begins to rise, pour into well-buttered pans very thin.

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. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Butter + peanuttop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,754 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + peanuttop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,545 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Molasses + buttertop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,123 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, when cooked, the hard crisp structure of the candy.
New orleans molasses
Adds deep flavor, color, and moisture, and helps the candy brown as it cooks.
Shelled peanuts
Add crunch and nutty flavor to the finished crisp.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender texture, and helps the candy release from the pans.
Baking soda
Reacts with the hot syrup to produce gas, making the candy foam and lighten as it sets.

The step that matters

Adding the baking soda and pouring quickly. Baking soda makes the hot syrup foam up within moments. Stirring quickly spreads it evenly, and pouring as soon as it begins to rise keeps the candy thin and crisp before it sets.

Swap the peanut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, butter):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pecansfits better
  3. Walnutfits about as well
  4. Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, butter. 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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