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Macaroon Biscuits

Almond macaroons made from sweet and bitter almonds, egg whites, and sugar, baked on wafer paper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Macaroon 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.

Prepare

  1. Blanch and dry the almonds.

  2. Pound the almonds in a mortar, adding egg whites gradually until frothy.

  3. Mix in sifted sugar and additional egg whites until the mixture is the right consistency.

Shape and bake

  1. Drop the mixture onto sheets of wafer paper using a biscuit funnel.

  2. Optionally, place a strip of almond on top of each biscuit before baking.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 18 minutes.

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 + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sweet almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavor of the macaroons.
Egg whites
Bind the almond paste and add lightness, helping the mixture hold its shape.
Sifted sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during baking.
Bitter almonds
Add a concentrated almond aroma to the mixture.

The step that matters

Mixing in the egg whites to the right consistency. Egg whites must be added gradually so the mixture becomes frothy and holds together without turning runny. Too much liquid makes the biscuits spread on the wafer paper, while too little leaves a dry, crumbly mix that will not form neat mounds.

Swap the almond

The recipe marks almond as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. 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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