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Dessert

Buckeye Kisses

Buckeye Kisses are small, buttered, egg‑white cakes baked until yellowish, optionally flavored with chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Buckeye 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 meringue

  1. Beat the egg whites to a high, firm froth.

  2. Stir in the powdered sugar and lemon extract, then continue to beat until very light.

Shape and bake

  1. Drop spoonfuls onto well-buttered parchment paper, about half the size of an egg and an inch apart.

  2. Place the paper on a ½-inch board and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven.

  3. Remove when the drops begin to look yellowish.

Make and bake the second batch

  1. Beat 2 egg whites to a stiff froth.

  2. Gradually stir in 2 cups powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons cornstarch.

  3. Bake in a warm oven for 15 minutes or until slightly 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. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Butter + chocolatetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,543 recipes

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

  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 a foam that traps air, giving the cookies their light, airy structure.
Powdered sugar
Dissolves into the foam, adding sweetness and a fine, smooth, glossy texture.
Cornstarch
Softens the meringue's texture and helps it hold its shape while baking.
Lemon extract
Adds a bright citrus aroma that balances the sweetness.

The step that matters

Stop baking at the first yellowish tint. Meringues keep drying and browning after leaving the oven. Once the sugars caramelise past a light colour, they turn bitter and the centres dry out hard.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

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