Skip to main content
Dessert

Almond Paste

A paste made from blanched bitter almonds, egg white, rose water, and rectified spirits.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Almond and rose are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,465 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond Paste

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Blend the blanched bitter almonds until finely ground.

  2. In a bowl, combine the ground almonds with the egg white.

  3. Add rose water and rectified spirits gradually until a paste forms.

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 + rosetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,465 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Rose + spirittop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together140 recipes

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

  3. Almond + spirittop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together143 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

  5. Egg + rosetop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,840 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Blanched bitter almonds
Provide the main flavour and the bulk of the paste.
Egg white
Binds the ground almonds together and adds moisture to the paste.
Rose water
Adds aroma and moisture so the almonds can form a paste.
Rectified spirits
Adds liquid that helps bind the paste while evaporating quickly.

The step that matters

Adding the rose water and rectified spirits gradually. Adding the liquids all at once can make the paste too wet and sticky. Adding them slowly lets you stop once the almonds bind into a workable paste with the right texture.

“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 almond paste recipes

Tartlets 6Bonbons 3Cake 3Filling 3 See all 105 →

You might also like

Almond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipesCoconut Almond CakeCoconut Almond Cake17 recipes