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Dessert

Tartlets, Parisian

A small tartlet filled with a buttery, sweet almond and cinnamon mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Tartlets, Parisian

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the filling

  1. Cream the butter and sugar together until thick and smooth.

  2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

  3. Mix the cream and cornflour together until smooth. Stir the mixture into the cream and cornflour.

  4. Add the ground almonds, cake crumbs, cinnamon, and lemon juice, and mix the mixture well.

Bake and serve

  1. Line 12 tartlet molds with pastry.

  2. Fill them with the mixture.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 15 to 20 minutes.

  4. When about halfway baked, sprinkle with castor sugar.

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. Almond + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Butter
Creaming with sugar traps air and gives the filling a tender, rich texture.
Eggs
Bind the filling and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
Cornflour
Thickens the liquid so the filling sets softly rather than running.
Ground almonds
Add moisture, body and a nutty flavour to the filling.
Cake crumbs
Soak up liquid and add body, helping the filling hold together.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the filling and, sprinkled on top, helps the surface brown.

The step that matters

Adding the eggs one at a time. Adding eggs gradually lets each one emulsify into the creamed butter and sugar. Adding them all at once can cause curdling, which weakens the smooth texture of the filling.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, almond, egg, cream, cinnamon):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, almond, egg, cream, cinnamon. 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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