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Dessert

Almond Macaroons

Almond macaroons are small sweet cakes made from eggs, sugar, and almond or pine‑nut butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and almond 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 ↓

Almond Macaroons

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the egg whites until frothy, gradually adding sugar while beating continuously.

  2. Continue beating until the mixture thickens enough to be cut with a knife.

  3. Gently fold in the almond meal, preferably made from slightly toasted almonds.

Bake

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto buttered baking sheets.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for one minute, then open the oven door to let them dry.

  3. For a glazed surface, brush the macaroons with water before baking.

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. Sugar + almondtop 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. Egg + almondtop 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

Eggs
Whipped whites trap air and set into the light, airy structure of the macaroons.
Sugar
Sweetens the macaroons and stabilizes the whipped whites so the foam holds its shape.
Almond or pine-nut butter
Adds fat and nutty flavor, and gives the macaroons a moist, tender texture.

The step that matters

Beating the egg whites with sugar. Whites must be beaten until they thicken enough to cut with a knife. Underbeaten foam collapses during folding and baking, while overbeaten foam turns dry and grainy and loses its air.

Swap the almond

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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