macarons with pistachio filling

The mild and slightly sweet aroma of the pistachio nuts makes this delicate cookie one of my favorites.

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Makes about 40 Macarons

For the Macaron shells

• 200 g ground almonds
• 200 g confectioners sugar
• 75 ml water
• 200 granulated sugar
• 2x 80 g egg whites at room temperature, have been separated the day before and covered in the refrigerator
• green colouring paste as it wishes

Sift the ground almonds and confectioners sugar together through fine sieve, just make sure it is very fine and pour 80 g of the egg white into the almond-confectioners sugar mixture. Add as wished some colouring paste to the mixture and set aside.

Place the another 80 g of the egg white into a mixing bowl and whip the egg white to the soft peak.

Put the water and sugar in a heavy-base saucepan over medium-high heat.

When the syrup reaches 115°C, take if off the heat and slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl with the whipped egg white.

Continue mixing for about 10 minutes, until the meringue cool down. The whipped egg white will be very stiff and glossy.

Mix a third of the whipped egg white into the almond mixture and combine them well. Fold the rest of whipped egg white into the mixture and mix gently, until the batter is smooth and thick.

Put the mixture into a piping bag fitted with 0,8-cm plain tip. Pipe the staggering rows of rounds of the size of a walnut onto baking trays, lined with parchment papers or baking sheets. Tap the underside of the baking sheet to remove air bubbles.

Let the piped shells stand at room temperature for 30 – 60 minutes to let the crust forms. When the piped shells are dry to touch without it sticking to your finger, they are good to go into the oven.

Preheat the oven to 140°C and bake the Macarons for about 10 – 15 minutes on the lowest part of the oven. After baking remove the tray from the oven and put the Macarons (still on the baking paper) onto a cool bench top. This shocks them and makes them easier to remove from the paper.

For the filling

• 250 g butter
• 25 g confectioners sugar
• 70 g ground almonds
• 100 g pistachios finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon almond syrup

Mix the chopped pistachios and the almond syrup and add the butter, the ground almonds and the confectioners sugar together until smooth.

Give the filling on one shell and place the other shell on, slightly twist as you push down so the filling evenly spreads between the two halves.

Store the Macarons in an airtight container in the fridge for about 24 hours. Macarons will taste better after they are chilled overnight as the filling flavour will blend in and shells will be less dry.

Happy baking ! ! !