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Dessert

Chocolate Puffs

A light, airy puff made from beaten egg whites, powdered sugar, cornstarch, and grated chocolate, baked until crisp.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 Puffs

Oven, in the book's wordsA warm oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a warm oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.

  2. Gradually stir in the powdered sugar and cornstarch.

  3. Fold in the grated chocolate.

Bake

  1. Drop the mixture by dessert spoonfuls, one inch apart, onto buttered baking sheets.

  2. Bake in a warm oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + chocolatetop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff foam that traps air, giving the cookies their light, airy lift.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and dissolves easily into the whipped whites for a smooth mixture.
Cornstarch
Stabilizes the batter and helps the cookies keep a tender, soft interior texture.
Chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and melts slightly during baking for richness.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth. Egg whites must be whipped until they hold stiff peaks, since the foam traps air that gives the cookies lift. Under-whipped or greasy whites will spread and bake flat and dense.

“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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