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Dessert

Almond Paste

Almond paste is a stiff mixture of ground almonds, icing sugar, egg yolk, almond essence, and beaten egg white.

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 ↓

Almond Paste

Ingredients

Directions

Make the paste

  1. Mix ground almonds and icing sugar in a bowl.

  2. Add the yolk of egg and almond essence.

  3. Stir in enough beaten egg white to form a stiff paste.

  4. Heat the mixture over low heat until warm and stiff enough to roll.

Roll out

  1. Dredge a clean surface with icing sugar and roll out the paste to the desired thickness.

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. Sugar + eggtop 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

Ground almonds
Make up the bulk of the paste, giving it body and a firm, chewy texture.
Icing sugar
Adds sweetness and fine texture, and keeps the paste from sticking when rolled.
Yolk of egg
Adds richness and helps bind the almonds into a smooth, cohesive paste.
Egg white
Binds the paste and stiffens it, giving the structure needed to roll out.

The step that matters

Heating the mixture over low heat. Gentle warming softens the paste so it becomes pliable and easier to roll. Too much heat can cook the egg and make the paste dry, tough, or grainy.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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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