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Macaroons and Crescents From Almond Paste

Almond macaroons and crescents made from almond paste, egg whites, and confectioner's sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 and Crescents From Almond Paste

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.

Make the mixture

  1. Beat the almond paste and egg white until smooth.

  2. Gradually beat in the confectioner's sugar.

  3. Add the unbeaten egg whites one at a time, beating until light.

Shape and bake the macaroons

  1. Shape the mixture into small rounds on a baking sheet lined with paper.

  2. Press a candied cherry or bit of citron on top before baking.

  3. Brush with cold water and dredge with granulated sugar.

  4. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 10 minutes until light brown.

Make the crescents

  1. For crescents, mix two ounces of the macaroon mixture with half of the remaining mixture.

  2. Roll tablespoonfuls into crescents on a board dusted with powdered sugar.

  3. Roll the crescents in chopped or sliced blanched almonds.

  4. Bake the crescents as you would the macaroons.

  5. Remove the crescents with a spatula immediately after baking.

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

Almond paste
Provides the almond flavor and the chewy, moist body of the macaroons.
Egg whites
Whipped into the paste to lighten it and help the macaroons set and hold their shape.
Confectioner's sugar
Sweetens the mixture and adds bulk, giving a fine, tender texture.

The step that matters

Add the egg whites one at a time, beating until light. Beating the whites in gradually keeps the batter smooth and airy, so the macaroons rise lightly rather than turning dense or greasy.

Swap the almond

The recipe marks almond as optional. 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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