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Dessert

Croquantes of Almonds

A sweet almond confection baked and coated in sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Croquantes of Almonds

Oven, in the book's wordsA cool oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a cool oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch and dry the almonds in a cool oven.

  2. Once cold, pound the almonds in a mortar with the sugar.

  3. Rub the mixture through a wire sieve.

Make the dough

  1. Incorporate the butter, lemon rind, and beaten egg yolks into the almond mixture.

  2. Form the mixture into a paste, roll it out, and cut into shapes.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake the shapes in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

  2. Once baked, dip them into sugar boiled to a syrup and let them dry.

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 + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sweet almonds
Form the main body and nutty flavour of the cookie.
Loaf sugar
Adds sweetness and, boiled to a syrup, gives a crisp glossy coating.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender bite.
Egg yolks
Bind the almond mixture into a workable paste and add richness.
Lemon rind
Adds a bright citrus aroma.

The step that matters

Baking the shapes at 400°F (200°C). Sugar and almond proteins brown quickly at high heat, so the shapes can scorch before they are cooked through. Watch them closely and pull them once they are golden.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, sugar, butter, 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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