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Almond Pyramids

Almond Pyramids are small baked almond cakes shaped like pyramids.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Almond Pyramids

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 the mixture

  1. Blanch and finely chop the almonds.

  2. In a bowl, combine the chopped almonds, sugar, and flour.

  3. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the almond mixture to form a stiff paste.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the mixture into small pyramids on a greased baking sheet.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 10 minutes.

  3. Once done, transfer to a sieve to cool.

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 + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 main body and nutty flavour of the pyramids.
Castor sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the pyramids brown as they bake.
Flour
Gives the paste a little structure so the pyramids hold their shape.
Egg whites
Whisked to stiff peaks, they lighten the paste and help bind it together.
Bitter almonds
Add a concentrated almond aroma and a sharper, bitter note.

The step that matters

Folding the whisked egg whites into the almond mixture. Overmixing knocks air out of the stiff egg whites, leaving a dense paste that spreads instead of holding a pyramid shape. Fold gently until just combined.

“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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