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Dessert

Macaroons of Bitter Almonds

A sweet almond-based cookie made with sweet and bitter almonds, egg whites, and powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 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 ↓

Macaroons of Bitter Almonds

Oven, in the book's wordsA slack oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slack oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Pound the sweet almonds with a few bitter ones.

  2. Add 1 egg white and ½ pound of powdered sugar, mixing until creamy.

  3. Incorporate 3 more egg whites, adding the remaining sugar gradually.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the mixture into small, equal-sized balls.

  2. Place them on sheets of paper, moisten with a wet finger, and bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until done.

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. Egg + sugartop 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

Sweet almonds
Provide the main body and rich almond flavor of the macaroons.
Bitter almonds
Add a concentrated, aromatic almond flavor in small amounts.
Egg whites
Whip into the paste to give structure and help the macaroons rise and set.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the mixture and helps it form a smooth, creamy paste.

The step that matters

Shape the mixture into small, equal-sized balls.. Pieces of uneven size bake unevenly, so some turn dry or burn while others stay underdone. Equal balls ensure a consistent texture throughout the batch.

Swap the almond

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against 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.

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