Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Chocolate Kisses
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Finely sift together the sugar and chocolate.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy.
Make and bake
Mix the sifted sugar and chocolate with the beaten egg whites.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto buttered paper.
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until set.
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 + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Chocolate + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and, with the egg whites, helps form the crisp structure of the kisses.
- Chocolate
- Adds flavor and color to the kisses.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a foam, they give the mixture lift and help it set into a light, crisp structure.
The step that matters
Bake in a slow oven until set. A low oven dries the meringue-like mixture slowly so it sets without browning or cracking. Baking too hot can scorch the chocolate and sugar and leave the centers sticky or uneven.
“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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