Name: Biscuits Almond Biscuits
Ingredients: ½ cup ground almonds; ¾ cup castor sugar; 2 tablespoons orange-flower water; 2½ cups flour; ½ cup butter; 7 or 8 eggs

Why it works: Almond and flour 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 ↓

Biscuits Almond Biscuits

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the almond paste

In a mortar, mix the ground almonds, caster sugar, and orange‑flower water.
Break in 2 eggs and work the mixture until combined.

Make the dough and bake

Whisk the remaining eggs and gradually stir them into the almond paste.
Melt the butter and mix it with the sifted flour.
Fill small buttered biscuit tins with the mixture.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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.

Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,673 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,125 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,245 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Eggs: Bind the almond paste and give the biscuits structure and richness as they set.
Ground almonds: Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the biscuits.
Flour: Gives the batter structure so the biscuits hold their shape when baked.
Butter: Adds fat for tenderness and helps the biscuits brown.
Castor sugar: Sweetens the mixture and helps the biscuits brown in the oven.