Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Geneva Wafers
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a cool oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
In a bowl, whisk the eggs until well combined.
Add the softened butter and beat until creamy.
Gradually mix in the flour and powdered sugar until well combined.
Shape and bake
Butter a baking sheet and drop a teaspoonful of the mixture onto it, leaving space between each.
Bake until half done, then roll each wafer up like a dumpling and insert a small piece of bread or wood to maintain shape.
Return to the oven until crisp.
Fill and serve
Before serving, remove the bread and fill the widest end with a spoonful of preserves and whipped cream.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 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).
Butter and flour 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
- Eggs
- Provide structure and moisture, helping the batter bind and set as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness, and its creaming traps air that lightens the batter.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the wafer together as it sets and crisps.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the wafer and helps it brown and crisp as it bakes.
The step that matters
Bake until half done before rolling. The wafer must be partly set but still pliable. If it is underbaked it tears when rolled, and if it is overbaked it cracks and will not hold its curled shape.
“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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