I didn't have a pastry bag, so I created the domes with a little plastic bag which I cut the corner after having put all the paste in it. This solution gave acceptable domes, eatable, but not very presentable, well, not as beautiful nor as steady nor as bright as those for bakeries... But for a second try (the first one was botched a wednesday afternoon, without any preparation or patience, it wasn't worth being on this blog... In fact, it was an accumulation of howlers and of not-to-do things, so eventually maybe I will publish it one day, as an anti-recipe), so I was saying that for a second try it wasn't that bad. pistaccio paste is often advised for the filling, but I don't have it, so I improvised a little mixing that's all right.
ingredients : (for a dozen macarons)
-I'm sorry if you don't use grams, in this case just tell me I will turn it into other units
-20+50g non-salted green pistaccios
-3 eggs
-205+10g icing sugar (or confectioner's sugar)
-125g almond flour (if you don't find it in your country, just mix very very very thinely some almonds)
-30g regular sugar
-100g and some more whipping cream
-one teespoon almond essence
-20g soft butter
-2 packets of vanilled sugar (or regular sugar with some vanilla essence in it)
-green and yellow food colouring
Recipe :
#The day
before, separate the yolk from the white: keep in the fridge 3 whites and 3 yolks.#Mix very thinely the 20g pistaccio with the 205g icing sugar and the almond flour.
#Whip the egg chites until stiff. It has to be quite solid and not to slide if you move the bowl. As soon as the whipper draws points in it, add a tablespoon regular sugar, then add progressively the rest of the sugar and then pour 20 drops green colouring and 6 drops yellow.
#Sift the powder above the egg whites, by keeping too big frag
ments apart for the decoration. Keep patience, it's a boring work. The thiner the powder, the smoother and the brighter the macarons. Mix gently with a spatula.#Prepare 2 oven sheets with a double layer greaseproof paper (if you're British) or wax paper (if you're American). It's important for the formation of the famous ruff. You can draw little circle with a pencil (3 or 5 cm diameter) at regular intervals in staggered rows, to make the sequel easier.
#Creat little regular domes with a pastry bag. You can decorate it with the almond flour left over, sans exces. Let it rest minimum 20 minutes but a few hours or even all the night in a flat cool place, under, so that the macarons can "crust". This "crust" phase isn't advised in all recipes, indeed it's possible to avoid it, but the macarons you obtain in that case are slacker, more fragile and less swollen, so it's
more difficult to unstick them.#Prepare 50g « pistaccio paste» : mix very thinely 50g pistaccio with some icing sugar and some almond flour if there's too much (recycling!). When it's a nice thin powder, add some almond essence and a little whipped cream, just to give it the glummy modelling clay consistency, but not before the powder is really thin otherwise it won't work.
#Thin this paste down in 100g warm whipped cream, in a saucepan. Add one packet vanille sugar et let the mixture boil. Mix the other vanilled sugar packet with the egg yolks and add it into the saucepan. Mix, add the butter, and let it cool.
#Let the oven preheat about 160°C, and bake the macarons about 15-17 minutes (in any case not too hot, not too long, and while watching: the skin has to be crunchy, but tender inside, a consistancy between meringues and
almond paste).#Let the macarons cool some minutes, it is still hardening, and then unstick it gently with a knif of a spatula. Return all of them on the back, without breaking them, and try to make couples of the same size.
#Spread the pistaccio filling between each couple (there must be about 12 couples), and stick them together. You can eat them immediately, keep them in the fridge or even freeze them.
#BON APPETIT#ENJOY YOUR MEAL#
