Why it works: Almond and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,733 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Macarons Chocolat De Bordearxz
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix the sugar and egg whites with a spatula.
Add the finely chopped almonds and melted chocolate to the mixture.
Bake
Spoon the mixture onto parchment paper.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.
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.
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Almond + chocolatetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,733 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + chocolatetop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps the egg whites hold their structure.
- Egg whites
- Provide protein and moisture that bind the batter and help set the shells.
- Finely chopped almonds
- Add body and a tender, slightly chewy texture to the shells.
- Melted chocolate
- Adds fat and flavor, and softens the texture of the shells.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Baking until the shells are set lets the proteins firm up and the structure hold. Underbaked shells stay soft and sticky and can collapse or smear when handled.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, chocolate):
- Pecansfits about as well
- Almondthe original
- Hazelnutfits about as well
- Peanutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, 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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