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Dessert

Almond Maccarooiis

Almond macaroons are sweet confections made from egg whites, powdered sugar, chocolate, spices, and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Almond Maccarooiis

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 325°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. Beat the egg whites and powdered sugar together until frothy.

  2. Mix in the grated chocolate, cinnamon, allspice or cloves, and chopped almonds.

Shape and bake

  1. Line a baking pan with greased writing paper.

  2. Drop ½ teaspoon of the mixture for each macaroon, spacing them 2 inches apart.

  3. Bake in a slightly cooler than moderate oven (about 325°F or 160°C).

  4. Remove the macaroons from the paper while still warm using a knife.

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 + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Chocolate + almondtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,733 recipes

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

  4. Allspice + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together512 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Egg whites
Whipped to a froth, they trap air and give the macaroons their light, airy structure.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and dissolves into the whipped whites, helping them hold together.
Blanched almonds
Provide the bulk and nutty flavour, and their oil and fine texture make the macaroons tender.
Grated sweet chocolate
Adds richness, flavour and fat, giving the macaroons a deeper, more tender bite.

The step that matters

Removing the macaroons from the paper while still warm. Once they cool fully, the sugar and egg structure sets firmly and the macaroons stick to the paper and break. Lifting them while still warm keeps them intact.

Swap the allspice

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, chocolate, cinnamon, 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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