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Dessert

Macaroons

A sweet coconut-based dessert made with egg whites, sugar, coconut, cornstarch, almond extract, and walnuts, baked into small balls.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Macaroons

Why it works: Almond and walnut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 993 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Macaroons

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the base

  1. Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.

  2. Gradually beat in the granulated sugar.

  3. Set the mixture over a boiling kettle to steam for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Shape and bake

  1. Mix in the shredded coconut, cornstarch, almond extract, and chopped walnuts.

  2. Form the mixture into small balls.

  3. Bake on buttered paper for about 40 minutes in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C).

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + walnuttop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together993 recipes

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

  2. Coconut + almondtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  3. Coconut + walnuttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  4. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff foam that gives the macaroons their light, airy structure.
Granulated sugar
Stabilises the whipped whites and adds sweetness and browning during baking.
Shredded coconut
Provides the chewy body and the main coconut flavour of the macaroons.
Cornstarch
Absorbs moisture from the mixture, helping the macaroons hold their shape and stay tender.
Chopped walnuts
Add crunch and a nutty flavour that contrasts with the chewy coconut.

The step that matters

Steaming the egg white and sugar mixture. Steaming over boiling water warms the whipped whites and sugar so the sugar dissolves fully and the foam stays stable. Undercooked or over-stirred foam can collapse, leaving flat, dense macaroons.

Swap the coconut

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Coconutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, almond, walnut. 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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