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Dessert

Macaroon Cream

A gelatin-based custard dessert folded with powdered macaroons and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Macaroon Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold water.

  2. In a saucepan, combine egg yolks, milk, sugar, and salt. Cook over low heat, stirring until thickened.

  3. Add the soaked gelatin to the custard and stir until dissolved. Strain and let cool.

Finish and set

  1. Once cooled, fold in the macaroons and vanilla until thickened.

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and gently fold into the mixture.

  3. Pour into a mold and refrigerate until set.

Serve

  1. Serve with whipped cream.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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
Yolks thicken the milk custard, while whites are beaten in to lighten the set dessert.
Knox gelatin
Sets the cooled custard into a firm, sliceable mixture when refrigerated.
Powdered macaroons
Add almond and sweet flavour and body, thickening the custard as they are folded in.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, providing richness and creaminess.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps balance the richness of the milk and yolks.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard over low heat. Egg yolks thicken as they warm, but high heat can scramble them into lumps. Stirring over low heat keeps the custard smooth before the gelatin is added.

“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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