Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Almond Crockets
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.
Prepare the almond paste
Wipe the almonds to remove dust; do not scald or remove hulls.
Pound the almonds in a mortar with a few drops of orange flower water until a pulp forms.
Mix in the flour, sugar, orange zest, whole eggs, and egg yolk by pounding together.
Knead the paste with a little flour on a surface until smooth.
Shape and bake
Roll out the paste into a shape using a rolling pin and place it on a greased baking sheet.
Brush the top with egg wash and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
Once baked and still hot, cut into thin slices.
Dry the slices on a baking sheet in the oven.
Finish
Moisten the edges with royal icing and dip in finely chopped pistachio kernels.
Let them dry for a few minutes.
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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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,125 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Almonds
- Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the paste.
- Flour
- Adds structure so the paste holds its shape when rolled and sliced.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cookies and contributes to browning as they bake.
- Whole eggs
- Bind the paste together and add structure as the cookie sets.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and helps the paste bind and brown on top.
The step that matters
Drying the slices in the oven. Slices that are not dried long enough stay soft and chewy instead of crisp. Drying removes moisture from the thin cut pieces, which is what gives almond cookies their crunch.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, almond, sugar, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, almond, sugar, egg. 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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