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Dessert

Macaroon Custard

A custard made with eggs, cream, sherry, macaroons, meringue, and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Macaroon Custard

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together.

  2. Add the cream and sherry to the yolks and sugar mixture.

  3. Place the mixture in a double boiler and cook until it thickens into a custard.

Assemble

  1. Break the macaroons into pieces and place them in a dish.

  2. Pour the custard over the broken macaroons.

Top and bake

  1. Whip the egg whites until soft peaks form, then add 2 teaspoons of sugar and mix well.

  2. Spread the meringue over the custard and macaroons, then brown in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

Finish and serve

  1. After removing from the oven, stick the blanched almonds thickly into the meringue.

  2. Serve hot.

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 + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Sherry + almondtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together517 recipes

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

  3. Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Cream + sherrytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard as they set, and whipped whites form the airy meringue topping.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, giving the custard a smooth, soft body.
Macaroons
Soak up the custard and add almond flavour and a tender, layered texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and meringue, and helps the whipped whites hold their foam.
Sherry
Adds aroma and a subtle fruity, sharp flavour that balances the sweetness.
Blanched almonds
Add crunch and a nutty flavour to the browned meringue surface.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard in the double boiler. Egg yolks set as they heat, so cooking gently until the custard thickens is important. Too much heat can scramble the yolks and leave the custard grainy instead of smooth.

“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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