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Dessert

Almond Macaroons

A sweet treat made with blanched almonds, sugar, egg white, corn starch, and rose extract, baked until light brown.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 485 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Almond Macaroons

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Blanch and pound the almonds.

  2. Mix the almonds and sugar together.

  3. Beat the egg white with 1 teaspoon of sugar until stiff peaks form.

  4. Fold the beaten egg white into the almond mixture.

  5. Stir in the corn starch and rose extract.

Shape and bake

  1. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and butter the lined parchment paper.

  2. Drop half a teaspoon of the mixture onto the paper, spaced 1 inch apart.

  3. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 45 minutes, or until light brown and dry.

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 + corntop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 recipes

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

  2. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  3. Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,465 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Almond + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Blanched almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavor of the macaroons.
Egg white
Whipped to stiff peaks, it gives the macaroons lightness and structure.
White granulated sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps the macaroons brown and dry as they bake.
Corn starch
Absorbs moisture and helps the macaroons hold a tender, set texture.

The step that matters

Fold the beaten egg white into the almond mixture. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whipped egg white. Overmixing deflates them, so the macaroons spread flat and bake up denser.

“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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