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Dessert

Almond Macaroons

Almond macaroons are sweet cookies made from blanched almonds, sugar, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 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 Macaroons

Oven, in the book's wordsA very cool oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very cool oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch the almonds, wipe them dry, and place them in a cool oven to dry completely.

  2. Pound the almonds into a very smooth paste with a little egg white.

Make the batter

  1. Whisk the egg whites to a firm froth.

  2. Gradually mix in the sugar with the egg whites.

  3. Combine the almond paste with the egg and sugar mixture, whisking well.

Bake

  1. Drop the mixture onto wafer paper.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until pale brown, about 15 to 20 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 + 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

Almonds
Provide the bulk and nutty almond flavour of the macaroons as a smooth paste.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, when whisked with the whites, helps stabilise the batter.
Egg whites
Whisked to a firm froth, they give the macaroons lift and structure while binding the paste.

The step that matters

Whisking the egg whites to a firm froth. Egg whites hold air when whisked, and that foam gives the macaroons their lift and light texture. Under-whisked whites collapse, and the mixture loses the volume it needs to bake up properly.

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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