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Dessert

Macarons Macarons De Nancy

Macarons de Nancy are almond-based pastries made with egg whites, powdered sugar, and vanilla, baked into crisp shells.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Macarons Macarons De Nancy

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the batter

  1. Soak the almonds overnight, then grind them with 3 egg whites until fine.

  2. Let the mixture rest overnight, then add 3 more egg whites and mix well.

  3. Incorporate 1¾ cups of powdered sugar, ensuring it is sifted.

  4. Add vanilla and mix until well combined.

  5. Let the mixture rest for about 2 hours.

Pipe and bake

  1. Pipe the mixture onto parchment paper and bake in a preheated moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for 12 minutes.

  2. Brush the tops with a little water before baking.

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. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vanilla + syruptop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Blanched almonds
Provide the main dry structure and body of the batter, along with fat and flavor.
Egg whites
Add protein that traps air and sets with heat, giving the shells structure and lift.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and a fine texture, and helps the batter become smooth and glossy.

The step that matters

Let the mixture rest for about 2 hours.. Resting lets the surface dry and form a thin skin. This skin helps the macarons rise evenly into feet and keeps the tops from cracking or spreading during baking.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Chestnutfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Hazelnutfits about as well
  4. Pistachiofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, vanilla, syrup. 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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