Name: Walnut Chocolate Creams
Ingredients: vanilla fondant; chocolate; English walnut halves; starch

Why it works: Vanilla and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Walnut Chocolate Creams

Ingredients

vanilla fondant
chocolate
English walnut halves
starch

Directions

Roll the vanilla fondant into a round strip of desired size.
Cut the strip into lengths equal to the diameter.
Roll these lengths into round balls and lay them on trays to dry until firm.
Melt the chocolate and pour it into square impressions in starch or into pans to the desired thickness.
Once cooled, cut the chocolate into squares with a knife.
While the chocolate is still warm, press an English walnut half firmly onto each square.

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.

Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,020 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Vanilla + walnuttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,730 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Chocolate + walnuttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,548 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).