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Dessert

Cheesecakes of Almonds

A tartlet of almond-based cheesecake baked in puff pastry shells.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Cheesecakes of Almonds

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the almond mixture

  1. Blanch the sweet and bitter almonds.

  2. Pound the blanched almonds very fine in a mortar, adding a few drops of water to keep them white.

  3. In a basin, combine the pounded almonds with the yolks of three eggs and enough sifted sugar to sweeten the mixture. Beat the mixture well with a spoon.

Add the whites and flavourings

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff in a separate bowl.

  2. Fold the stiff egg whites into the almond mixture.

  3. Add the grated lemon rind, apricot jam, nutmeg, and brandy to the mixture. Combine the mixture well.

Fill and bake

  1. Roll out the puff pastry and cut it into circles to line tartlet pans.

  2. Fill the pastry shells about half full with the cheesecake mixture.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C), watching closely to prevent burning.

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 + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Almond + apricottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together852 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Apricot + brandytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together513 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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 bulk and nutty flavour of the cheesecake filling.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the almond mixture together.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the filling and help it rise and set.
Sifted sugar
Sweetens the filling and adds body to the almond paste.
Puff pastry
Forms the crisp, flaky shell that holds the filling.

The step that matters

Folding in the stiff egg whites. Stiff whites hold air that lightens the filling. Overmixing or deflating them makes the tartlets dense, so fold gently until just combined.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, egg, sugar, apricot, nutmeg, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, egg, sugar, apricot, nutmeg, brandy. 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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