Why it works: Walnut and dates work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 302 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Date and Nut Macaroons
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Mix and shape
In a bowl, combine chopped walnuts, chopped dates, and cornstarch, and mix well until all ingredients are evenly distributed.
Scoop the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden.
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.
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Walnut + datestop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together302 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Walnuts
- Add bulk, fat and a crunchy texture to the mixture.
- Dates
- Add sweetness and moisture, helping the mixture hold together.
- Cornstarch
- Binds the mixture and helps the macaroons set firm rather than spreading.
The step that matters
Bake until lightly golden. Dates and walnuts contain natural sugars that brown quickly in the oven. Once past light gold, the browning turns bitter, so check the macaroons near the minimum baking time.
“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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