Skip to main content
Dessert

Almond Spatelio

A sweet almond cookie made with sugar, almonds, flour, butter, eggs, almond extract, lemon, soda, baking powder, and sour cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Landmarks Club · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Almond Spatelio

Ingredients

Directions

Make the almond paste

  1. Combine two egg whites, half pound granulated sugar, half pound finely chopped almonds, fine cut peel and juice of one lemon; mix well.

  2. Let the paste dry.

  3. Cut the paste into strips about the size of a finger.

  4. Grease a pan with white wax.

  5. Bake quickly to a light brown.

Make the sour cream dough

  1. Combine one teacupful sugar, one teacupful sour cream, one egg, one teaspoonful soda.

  2. Mix all together with flour enough to roll.

  3. Bake in quick oven.

Make the butter dough and bake

  1. Combine two cups flour, one cup sugar, one teaspoonful baking powder, three tablespoonfuls butter, three eggs, six drops extract of almond.

  2. Rub butter and flour together, put in baking powder.

  3. Beat up eggs and sugar.

  4. Add these with extract, flour, etc., and mix into stiff dough.

  5. Roll into small balls and toss them in granulated sugar.

  6. Put on greased tins and bake about ten minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

803Calories
37 gProtein
19 gFat
118 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Landmarks Club. 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. See the original page.

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 + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Finely chopped almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the almond paste.
Egg whites
Bind the almond paste together and help it hold its shape.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness to the dough.
Eggs
Bind the dough and add richness and structure.
Soda
Reacts with the sour cream to lighten the dough and aid browning.
Sour cream
Adds moisture and tang, tenderising the dough when combined with soda.

The step that matters

Bake quickly to a light brown. Almond paste dough is sensitive to heat; baking too long dries it out and darkens it. A hot oven and short bake set the surface while keeping the centre moist and tender.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

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

More almond cookies recipes

Chocolate 4 See all 29 →

You might also like

Lemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesLemon SherbetLemon Sherbet103 recipesLemon CustardLemon Custard64 recipes