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Dessert

Creole Kisses

A confection of whipped egg whites, powdered sugar, cream, pecans, baked briefly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter 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 ↓

Creole Kisses

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 mixture

  1. Beat the egg whites until whipped.

  2. Gradually add the powdered sugar and beat for 30 minutes.

  3. Mix in the cream and desired extract.

  4. Fold in the chopped pecans.

Shape and dry

  1. Drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto buttered paper.

  2. Allow to dry in a 350°F (175°C) oven, but do not let them brown.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Pecans + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,416 recipes

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

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped into foam, they give the candies their light, airy structure.
Powdered sugar
Stiffens the whipped whites and gives the kisses their sweetness and fine texture.
Pecans
Add crunch and a toasted, nutty flavor against the soft, sweet interior.

The step that matters

Drying without browning. The kisses should dry slowly at moderate heat so they set firm without the sugar caramelizing. Too much heat or time turns them brown and sticky-centered, changing both flavor and texture.

Swap the pecans

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

  1. Almondfits about as well
  2. Pecansthe original
  3. Filbertfits about as well
  4. Pistachiofits about as well

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