Pistachio Macarons for MacTweets
This month the challenge for MacTweets was “do something or add something you’ve never done but always wanted to try!”. As if making macarons wasn’t hard enough!
I decided that the next stage in my macaron learning was to move on from ground almonds and try a different type of nut. My favourite nut to snack on is pistachios, I don’t do it often as they are so often coated in salt, but when I do I am in heaven. So I made Pistachio Macarons with Chocolate ganache.
I used this pistachio macaron recipe from Use Real Butter who in turn modified it from Tartelette.
As you can see they worked out extremely well! I got feet, a fairly green colour, a smooth top and my ganache set for once.
This is the first time I have used colourings to tint my shells, having previously only used ‘natural’ colourants like coffee. I read that using liquid colouring could totally mess with the consistency and cause all sorts of problems, but thankfully Jen at Use Real Butter had already solved this problem. The solution? To add the liquid colouring to the granulated sugar first and leaving it to dry while you whisk the eggs.
top-left: green coloured caster sugar top-right: ground almonds, pistachios and icing sugar bottom: final macaron mixture
Grinding the pistachios was a little bit scary, as they became quite sticky I guess that’s why its a good idea to add almonds and icing sugar into the grinder too – and that’s definitely what I will do next time!
I have to say that I was a little disappointed with the flavour as I was expecting a strong pistachio taste but it was rather drowned out by the chocolate ganache. Maybe next time I’ll make a pistachio macaron with a pistachio ice cream filling, now that sounds almost too perfect.
As final first I also, accidentally, made conjoined macarons! Two perfectly formed conjoined pairs, twice as yummy…
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January 13th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Your Pistachio Macarons look great! Cute conjoined!
January 14th, 2010 at 1:40 am
These turned out wonderful, the color turned out a beautiful green color. Pistachios are my favorite nuts to snack on. Thanks for sharing.
January 14th, 2010 at 1:54 am
Congrats – they are beautiful!
January 14th, 2010 at 3:02 am
WOW…Lauren, LOOK AT YOU FEET! Gorgeous macarons, and I love that you used pistachio nuts. They are my fave nuts too. Thank you for the tip about adding colour to the sugar. I will certainly do that in future. Thank you for joining us at MacTweets! This is turning out to be real fun!!
January 14th, 2010 at 7:36 am
I’m very impressed with these beautiful little thing. Looks gorgeous and delicious. I must take the challenge this year to make macaroons.
January 14th, 2010 at 7:46 am
Really beautiful macs! Love the flavors – I’m nuts (pun intended) for pistachios especially paired with chocolate and they are just perfect, too. Excellent macs! Glad you are part of the Mactweets team!
January 14th, 2010 at 7:50 am
These look amazing! I bet the pistachios worked incredibly well!!
January 14th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
(swoon) I am in heaven. These look great.
January 14th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Wow, the pistachio flavor macaroons sound incredible!
January 14th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Stunning macsssssss………wow! Love the colour!
January 18th, 2010 at 11:03 am
These look perfect! I made the Nigella ones ages ago and the buttercream filling was yum. Though mine were a lot uglier