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Chocolate Peppermints

Chocolate Peppermints are coconut-flavored sugar balls coated in chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Coconut and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,294 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Chocolate Peppermints

Ingredients

Directions

Make the balls

  1. Beat the egg white to a stiff froth.

  2. Add the sugar and shredded coconut, mixing well.

  3. Mold the mixture into small balls.

  4. Drain the balls on waxed paper.

Coat and finish

  1. Once cooled, dip the balls into melted chocolate.

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. Coconut + vanillatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Coconut + chocolatetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,107 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Egg white
Whipped into a stiff foam, it gives the mixture lightness and helps it hold its shape.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and body, helping the mixture bind into a firm, moldable mass.
Shredded coconut
Adds chewy texture and bulk to the centre of each ball.
Chocolate
Forms a sweet, firm coating around the cooled balls.
Vanilla
Adds a warm aroma that rounds out the sweetness.

The step that matters

Beat the egg white to a stiff froth. Whipping egg white traps air in a stable foam that gives the mixture lightness and structure. If it is under-whipped, the foam collapses and the balls turn dense and wet.

Swap the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, vanilla, chocolate):

  1. Coconutthe original
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Raspberryfits about as well
  4. Cherryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, vanilla, chocolate. 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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