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Dessert

Almond Slices

A baked almond confection made with eggs, chocolate, sugar, spices, flour, and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Almond Slices

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

  1. Blanch and chop the almonds.

  2. Separate the eggs; beat the yolks until creamy.

  3. Mix the chocolate and spices with the sugar.

  4. Sift the flour and baking powder together.

Make the dough

  1. Add the sugar mixture to the beaten yolks, then stir in the flour and chopped almonds.

  2. Gently fold in the whipped egg whites.

Bake and slice

  1. Shape the mixture into long narrow strips on a flat pan.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.

  3. While warm, cut into slices.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks bind the batter and whites, whipped and folded in, give it lightness and lift.
Almonds
Provide body, nutty flavour and a firm, slightly chewy crumb in the slices.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the strips together as they bake.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the oven, helping the dough rise and stay tender.
Sugar
Sweetens the dough and helps it brown at the edges during baking.
Chocolate
Adds richness, deep flavour and a darker colour to the dough.

The step that matters

Folding in the whipped egg whites. Whites hold air only if they are whipped to a stable foam and folded in gently. Stirring vigorously knocks out the air, so the slices bake up dense instead of light.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Gingerfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, chocolate, sugar, allspice, cinnamon, almond, flour. 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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