Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Cocoanut Macaroons
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Break, peel, and grate the fresh coconut.
Make and shape the dough
Add half the weight of grated coconut to granulated sugar and the beaten egg white.
Mix well and mold into balls.
Bake
Bake in buttered pans until golden brown.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Coconut (in the method)
- Provides the main body, moisture and flavor of the macaroons.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the macaroons and helps them brown in the oven.
- Egg white
- Binds the grated coconut and sets as it bakes, holding the shape.
The step that matters
Bake until golden brown. Sugar darkens quickly once the oven heats it, so the macaroons can scorch before the centers dry. Watch the color closely and remove them as soon as they are golden.
“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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