Name: Croquignoles
Ingredients: 1 lb flour; 1 lb powdered sugar; 1 large pinch candied orange blossoms; 1 oz butter; a pinch of salt; 4 whites of eggs; 1 white of egg

Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Croquignoles

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

Put flour in a basin, then add powdered sugar.
Beat candied orange blossoms to a powder and add them to the mixture.
Add butter and a pinch of salt.
Beat the whites of eggs, then add the beaten whites to the mixture.
Mix all ingredients to form a thick paste.

Shape and bake

Drop small heaps of the mixture onto a buttered tin.
Beat the remaining white of egg to a froth and brush the froth over the heaps.
Bake in a slow oven (300°F / 150°C).

Serve

Serve cold.

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.

Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Flour and butter 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

Flour: Provides the main structure that holds the paste together.
Powdered sugar: Adds sweetness and dissolves finely into the paste for a delicate texture.
Butter: Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the baked cookies.
Whites of eggs: Add moisture and lift, helping the thick paste bind and puff slightly.