Pistachio pistachio macarons!

These are my favorite of all the varieties I've made so far. :)  Recipe's at the end.  I began with pistachios, powdered sugar, and a touch of grass green powdered food color, in the food processor

Here's what it all looked like being mixed with the meringue.

I'm getting better at piping even sizes, but it's still hard to make them as small as I'd like.

Thanks to my dear sister for giving me the set of pastry bags and piping tips for Christmas!  I filled a bag with the pistachio buttercream.

For the first time, it occurred to me to use a fluted tip instead of a plain round one, and oh my goodness, people-- suddenly I felt like an actual pastry chef!

I'd just assumed the pretty fluted edge would be smooshed when I sandwiched the shells together, but instead:

It was a lot of fun to pipe the fillings. :)

Of course I had to bite one for purposes of photo documentation.

And then I just kinda went nuts with the camera in our pretty front yard.

Recipe: First, know how to make macarons.  Here's a PDF of Tartelette's great tutorial.

Then use Tartelette's tips to make macaron shells with the following ingredients:

90 gr egg whites (everyone tells you to age them overnight on your countertop, but I have never aged my egg whites, never, and the little macaron feet form just fine. I live in Southern California; perhaps a dry climate helps.)
25 gr granulated sugar
200 gr powdered sugar
110 gr raw pistachios
powdered green food coloring (about 1/2 teaspoon.)

Grind the pistachios with the powdered sugar in the food processor.  Whip up the egg whites and sugar into a meringue.  Mix the two parts together along with the food color until your batter flows like magma.  Pipe the shells and bake-- I did 315°F for 18 minutes.

Now make pistachio buttercream as follows (slightly adapted from Our Patisserie):
2 oz pistachios
1 cup powdered sugar
7 tbs butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Add some food coloring if you like... I think I added too much....

Grind the nuts and sugar in the food processor (I hope you didn't bother to wash it out).  Add to the butter and vanilla and beat until you get a nice buttercream.  Transfer this to a pastry bag and pipe.

I have to admit something about macarons.  They are way too time consuming.  I spent four hours making a grand total of 18 of them.  That's... let's see... more than 13 minutes per macaron.  13 minutes for something that takes me 30 seconds to consume.  Now, if I could pipe like this guy, it'd be worth it:



As it is, I've gotta stop making these things. I love them, but there are so many tasty desserts that can be made in much less time.

Oh, these macarons are also good with a simple chocolate ganache filling. FYI. :)