A Sweet Quartet

Sugar, Almonds, Eggs and Butter: A Baker's Tour Including 33 Recipes

By Fran Gage

When I had a bakery, sugar, almonds, eggs and butter were the sweet quartet that defined our everyday rhythm. We scooped sugar – granulated, powdered, brown – from large round tubs on casters into bowls set on scales as we constructed desserts. Every one of them contained some form of sugar. We scooped nuts too, almonds most of all, into the bowlfuls of sugar on the scales or processed them to a powder. We cracked flat after flat of eggs, using some whole and separating others into yolks and whites. We cut 60-pound blocks of butter into manageable slabs for rolling, beating and melting. Then we mixed these four staples in countless permutations, using different proportions and baking techniques to create a profusion of pastries. The absence of any one of them would have brought our work to an abrupt halt – no more croissants, tart dough, dacquoise; no more chocolate cake with almond paste; no more brown-sugar scones.

Yes, there are other ingredients in a baker's repertoire. Flour gives her creations structure, and chocolate imparts its unreplicatable flavor. But while flour plays an important role in pastry, it is in the bread kingdom, not the dessert realm, that it reigns supreme. And chocolate's deep complexity demands an arena of its own. While chocolate will dominate the taste of any dessert that includes it, any combination of sugar, almonds, eggs and butter will blend more harmoniously. I can't visualize a dessert that doesn't contain at least two of this sweet quartet.

The factors that get these ingredients into the kitchen in the first place are infinite and ever-variable: weather conditions, human trial and error, symbiotic relationships between plants and animals, technological innovation, genetic manipulation and government intervention. A flaw in just one of these can mean a less-than-perfect product. Then, no matter how much alchemy the pastry maker employs, the resulting dessert will not be gold. But when all goes well and the ingredients arrive in a pristine state, wonders can occur.

Want to see more?

• Chocolate for the Six Senses: Vosges Adds a Little Spice to the Sugar
• Substitution Chart
• Cook's Dictionary
• Talk about it!