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Dessert

Oatmeal Macaroons

A baked treat made from butter, sugar, oatmeal, eggs, salt, and baking powder.

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

Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Oatmeal Macaroons

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the dough

  1. Melt the butter and mix it with the salt and sugar.

  2. Add the oatmeal and baking powder, then mix well.

  3. Beat the eggs and fold them into the mixture.

Bake

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a greased baking sheet.

  2. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

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. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 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

Eggs
Bind the mixture and help the macaroons hold their shape as they set.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the heat so the macaroons rise and become lighter.
Oatmeal
Forms the bulk of the macaroons and gives them their chewy, hearty texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown as the macaroons bake.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender bite.

The step that matters

Bake until golden brown. Baking for the stated time without checking can leave the macaroons pale or dry. Golden colour signals that sugars have caramelised and moisture has baked off, so the edges are set and the centres are not doughy.

“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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