YAY! Macarons... revisited! Every time I go out and buy macarons, I typically gravitate towards the pistachio ones.. I don't know why! These were my first attempt at non-chocolate macarons. I eyeballed a lot of things, and hoped for the best. I must say that these turned out wonderfully. I wish it had a more pronounced "foot" and came out more green...but.. oh well. The edges were nice and crisp, and the center was melt in your mouth delicious. The butter-cream was my favorite, a not so sweet, very nutty buttery icing that went very well with the macaron cookies.
Macarons are finally finding its place in the US. I see it popping up in so many more places, anywhere from local shops, to the Nordstrom catalogs... weird. I wish I had money to set up a small macaron shop in Walnut Creek. I think that city can use a little more french flare (and a good cupcake shop as well haha.) Macarons when made at home are insanely cheap to produce... probably around $.50 to $1 a batch depending on if you're using nuts or chocolate... it's almost a crime that they charge 2+ dollars for one cookie!... but the thing is.. they can.. and people buy. Sigh....
SkinnyMinhy's Pistachio French Macarons
Makes 16-2 inch cookies, or 8 sandwiches
1 egg white, room temperature
1/8 tsp meringue powder
1.5 tbsp white sugar
50 grams of powdered sugar
1/4 cup almond meal
10 pistachios, whole, unsalted, dry roasted, and more for the top
2 drops of green coloring/ 2 drops of yellow coloring
1. In a small food processor, blend the powdered sugar, almond meal, and pistachios until the pistachios are finely grounded, and the mixture is nicely blended.
2. Whip up the egg white and meringue powder in a bowl until soft peaks form, add white sugar and coloring. Beat until there are semi-stiff peaks, and it has reached it maximum volume.
3. Pour in the powdered mixture and gently fold. Fold only until almost combined. Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a wilton #12 tip, or something larger.
4. Squeeze out excess air from top and bottom (you will blend the mixture more when you put it in the pastry bag, and the key to a good macaron is NOT to over-mix.)
5. Pipe 2 inch (diameter) circles on silpat. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios if desired.
(I got a wonderful tip for a user on Flickr, she told me that those little peaks and mounds on my chocolate macarons could be eliminated if I wet my finger and press it down, that worked wonderfully today!)
- Mine looked like this pre-baked:
6. Let the macarons dry for 15 minutes (or longer) in a cool place. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
7. Bake for 14 minutes or until the bottoms start to brown. Remove from silpat after 5 minutes and let cool on a rack.
Pistachio Buttercream
Enough for 6 sandwiches, with 1 tbsp of filling (I typically leave some without filling)
2 tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar ( or enough for desired consistency)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
15 pistachios grounded in a coffee grinder
Directions: In a small bowl, cream the butter until soft and smooth, add in vanilla and powdered sugar ( a little at a time) add in milk when mixture starts to become too thick. Mix in pistachio grounds.
(I didn't want my filling to be too sweet because the cookies were already ridiculously sweet, I opted for a thinner consistency, and less filling in my cookies.)
I took a ton of pictures of these macarons.... I haven't been using my camera a lot lately, so I thought I'd spend the time and do some major staging of these cookies.... I spent a lot of time figuring out the best color to showcase these things, and trust me, it's not as easy as it looks... only a few colors and textures made these macarons pop. I need to figure out if there's an easier way to do that. This is just one piece of magenta/hot pink paper, it's not thick, not shiny, just your basic colored paper.
Click here for a link to my chocolate macarons with white chocolate ganache filling recipe and tips!
I'd buy a million macarons from you! Order stat!
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