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Dessert

Italian Macaroons

A sweet almond-based cookie made by mixing blanched almonds with egg whites and sugar, then baking small walnut-sized pieces.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and sugar 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 ↓

Italian Macaroons

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Finely pound the almonds with 4 egg whites.

  2. Gradually add 2 ½ pounds of sifted loaf sugar and mix well.

  3. Incorporate 10-11 more egg whites gradually, testing the mixture's lightness by baking a small sample.

Shape and bake

  1. Use a biscuit funnel to pipe the mixture onto wafer paper in walnut-sized pieces.

  2. Top each piece with 3-4 slips of blanched and dried almonds.

  3. Bake on a wire rack or baking plate in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C).

Advance preparation

  1. Blanch and dry the almonds 2-3 days in advance for better results.

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 + sugartop 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. Almond + eggtop 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

Almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the macaroon paste.
Egg whites
Add structure and lightness, helping the paste rise and set as it bakes.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the paste and helps it bake into a crisp, dry shell.

The step that matters

Incorporating the egg whites. Egg whites must be added gradually so the mixture stays light and aerated. Adding them too quickly can deflate the paste, so testing a small baked sample helps confirm the lightness before piping.

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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