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Dessert

Almond Macaroons

A sweet treat made from almonds, sugar, egg white, and flavored with orange flower water or almond essence, baked into small balls.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Almond Macaroons

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the paste

  1. Blanch, skin, and pound the almonds with a little orange-flower water.

  2. Or use ground almonds with a few drops of almond essence.

  3. Mix in the sugar and pound to a smooth paste with the egg white, which should be broken up but not frothed.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll the paste into balls the size of a nutmeg.

  2. Set them on rice paper and slightly flatten them.

  3. Place half a blanched almond on each.

  4. Brush with water just before baking.

  5. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for about 30 minutes.

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 + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Almond + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Orange + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

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

  5. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

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

Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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

Almonds
Provide the bulk of the paste and its nutty flavour and body.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the macaroons and helps give them a crisp, set exterior when baked.
Egg white
Binds the almond and sugar paste together so the balls hold their shape.

The step that matters

Pounding the paste with the egg white. The egg white should be broken up but not frothed. Whipping it adds air and loosens the paste, so the macaroons may spread and lose their chewy texture in the oven.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, sugar, egg, rice. 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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