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Dessert

Macaroons

A sweet almond-based treat made with orange-flower water, egg whites, sugar, and wafer paper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Macaroons

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 ↓

Macaroons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almond paste

  1. Blanch the almonds.

  2. Pound the blanched almonds with the orange-flower water.

Make the batter

  1. Whisk the egg whites to a froth.

  2. Mix the frothy egg whites with the almond paste and sifted sugar.

Shape and bake

  1. Lay a sheet of wafer-paper on a tin.

  2. Place small dollops of the mixture on the wafer-paper to form macaroons.

  3. Bake until lightly golden.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  3. Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

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

  4. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

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

Orange and sugar 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 main body and nutty flavour of the almond paste.
Egg whites
Whisked into a froth, they lighten the mixture and help it set as it bakes.
Sifted sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the mixture bind and brown lightly in the oven.
Orange-flower water
Adds a floral aroma and moistens the almond paste so it can be shaped.

The step that matters

Whisking the egg whites to a froth. Egg whites need to be whisked enough to hold air bubbles. Well-aerated whites give the macaroons lift and a light, airy texture, while underwhipped whites leave them dense.

Swap the orange

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, 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.

More macaroon recipes

Pudding 38Ice Cream 36Cream 19Hickory Nut 10Tarts 9Almond 8 See all 4 →

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