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Dessert

Chocolate Macaroons

A sweet baked treat made from egg whites, sugar, cornmeal, almond paste, and cocoa.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and cocoa work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 51 recipes. Both carry acetylpyrazine, which smells roast. The science ↓

Chocolate Macaroons

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  2. Gradually add the sugar while continuing to beat until glossy.

  3. Fold in the cornmeal, almond paste, and cocoa or chocolate until well combined.

Bake

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

  2. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges are lightly 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.

  1. Almond + cocoatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together51 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).

  2. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

  3. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Egg + almondtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Sugar + cocoatop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together956 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air that gives the macaroons their light, airy structure.
Sugar
Added gradually to the whites, it stabilizes the foam and adds sweetness and gloss.
Almond paste
Adds moisture, chewiness and nutty flavor to the centre of the macaroons.
Cocoa or baker's chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and deep color of the macaroons.
White cornmeal
Adds a little body and fine texture to the batter, helping it hold its shape.

The step that matters

Gradually add the sugar while beating. Adding sugar slowly lets it dissolve into the whites, creating a stable, glossy foam. If the sugar is added too fast or the whites are underbeaten, the foam can collapse and the cookies may spread or turn out flat.

Swap the cocoa

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

  1. Pistachiofits better
  2. Hazelnutfits better
  3. Brazil nutfits better
  4. Cocoathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, almond. 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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