Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Best Naples Biscuits
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the syrup
Combine the sugar, water, and orange-flower water in a saucepan and boil until the sugar is completely melted.
Break the eggs into a bowl.
Whisk the eggs well.
Pour the hot syrup into the eggs while whisking continuously until the mixture cools.
Make the batter
Gently mix in the sifted flour until combined.
Prepare a baking plate with three sheets of paper, making the edges of one sheet stand up about 2 inches high.
Pour the batter into the prepared paper.
Dust the top of the batter with powdered sugar.
Bake and serve
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven, watching closely to prevent burning.
Let the biscuits cool in the paper.
Wet the bottom of the paper to remove the biscuits easily.
Cut the biscuits into desired sizes.
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.
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Orange + flourtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,821 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Eggs
- Whisked eggs and hot syrup set into a light, airy structure that holds the biscuit together.
- Fine sifted flour
- Gives the batter body and structure once baked, setting the crumb.
- Lisbon sugar
- Sweetens the biscuits and, dissolved in water, forms the syrup that cooks into the eggs.
- Orange-flower water
- Adds a floral aroma to the biscuits.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot syrup into the eggs while whisking. If the syrup is added in one go or the eggs are not whisked constantly, the hot sugar can partly cook the eggs into lumps and the mixture will not aerate evenly, leaving a dense texture.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, flour. 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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