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Dessert

Almond Macaroons

Almond macaroons are sweet, almond-based cookies made with eggs, powdered sugar, vanilla, and almonds, baked until lightly golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond 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

  1. Blanch, chop, or grind the almonds very fine a day or two in advance.

  2. Add a pinch of salt to the eggs and beat until light and dry.

  3. Gently stir in the sifted powdered sugar.

  4. Add the almonds a few at a time, then mix in the vanilla.

Bake and serve

  1. Line a baking pan with buttered paper and drop the mixture by teaspoonfuls.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until lightly golden.

  3. Let cool slightly, then loosen with a knife.

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 + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together27,347 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten until light and dry, they whip air into the batter and give the macaroons their lift and structure.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and helps set the surface so the macaroons hold their shape while baking.
Shelled almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavour; finely ground almonds give a tender, chewy texture.

The step that matters

Beating the eggs until light and dry. Whipping the eggs incorporates air that gives the batter its lift. If they are under-whipped or deflated when the dry ingredients are folded in, the macaroons will be dense and spread flat.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Chestnutfits about as well
  3. Hazelnutfits less well
  4. Macadamia nutfits less well

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