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Macarons Aux Chocolat- -chocolate Macaroons

Chocolate macaroons made from almonds, powdered sugar, chocolate, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,733 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Macarons Aux Chocolat- -chocolate Macaroons

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 the dough

  1. Pound the almonds in a mortar until fine.

  2. Mix in the powdered sugar and softened chocolate.

  3. Add the egg whites gradually, mixing well.

Shape and dry

  1. Shape the mixture into small balls and place them on a sheet of paper in regular rows.

  2. Allow the macaroons to dry for a few hours.

Bake and release

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.

  2. Turn the sheet of paper over and moisten the back with a brush dipped in water.

  3. Let it soak for a while, then remove the macaroons.

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 + chocolatetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,733 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Chocolate + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,448 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

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

What each ingredient does

Almonds
Provide the main structure and body of the macaroons once ground fine.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the mixture form a fine, stable paste.
Chocolate
Gives flavor and richness to the macaroons.
Egg whites
Bind the mixture and help the macaroons set and rise in the oven.

The step that matters

Allowing the macaroons to dry before baking. Resting the shaped mixture lets a thin surface skin form. This skin helps the macaroons hold their shape and rise evenly instead of spreading in the oven.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Hazelnutfits about as well
  4. Peanutfits about as well

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