Pistachio Macarons

Need

• The Macaron

• 240 Grams egg whites
• 1 Teaspoon cream of tartar
• 300 Grams raw caster sugar BUY
• 120 Grams pistachios
• 300 Grams pure icing sugar
• 180 Grams almond meal Recipe
• 1/2 Teaspoon pistachio extract
• 50 Grams pistachios chopped finely, for the tops of macarons

• Pistachio Buttercream

• 120 Grams pistachios
• 200 Grams butter BUY
• 400 Grams icing mixture
• 1 Pinch pink salt flakes BUY
• 30 Grams cream BUY

Do

1  

To make the Macarons; Preheat oven to 120-130ºC (temp will completely depend on your oven and may take making macarons a couple times to work out the ideal temp).

2  

Place 150g of the egg white with the cream of tartar into Thermomix bowl and whip 4 min/37ºC/Butterfly/speed 3/MC off. Wipe the moisture off the inside of the lid. Continue whipping until soft peaks form.

3  

Add the caster sugar and whip 20 min/Butterfly/speed 3.

4  

In a clean and dry Thermomix bowl, add icing sugar, pistachios and almond meal and blitz 10 sec/speed 8. Pour nut mix through a sieve into a large mixing bowl, discarding anything too big to pass through the sieve.

5  

Add remaining (90g) egg white and pistachio extract to the nut mix. Using a spatula, thoroughly mix by hand to create a smooth and consistent paste with no lumps.

6  

In thirds, add the meringue to the mixture and stir through with the spatula. The first third can be mixed quite vigorously. The second third continue to stir but a little more gently. The last third, use a gentle folding motion to retain as much air as possible. The consistency of the mixture should be 'lava' like when the spatula is held up above the bowl.

7  

Using a 1 cm piping nozzle, fill the piping bag 1/3 to ½ full.

8  

Pipe the mixture straight onto baking paper lined trays (see template). To pipe, hold the piping bag approx 1cm above the tray, squeeze out the mixture without moving the bag, stop squeezing, then quickly twist and pull up in one swift movement. You may need to use baking weights on the corner of each piece of paper, or use a small amount of mix beneath each corner of the paper to secure the paper and stop it from blowing onto the macarons as they bake in the oven. Once all of the trays are full, tap them lightly on the bench to release any air bubbles. You can also use a skewer to pop any bubbles.

9  

Sprinkle a little pistachio crumb on top of half of the macarons.

10  

Bake 13 mins on the middle two shelves with a tray on the top shelf to avoid discolouration.

11  

To make the Buttercream Icing; Place pistachios into the Thermomix bowl. Mill 10 sec/speed 10. Scrape and repeat until you have a paste consistency. Add remaining ingredients and mix 20 sec/speed 6. Scrape down sides of bowl.

12  

To assemble Macarons; Once the macarons are cool, match up pairs that are equal in size and place a circle of buttercream on the bottom of one half. Press together until the buttercream comes to the edge of the macaron.

13  

Package and gift, or hide them until you are ready to serve as they are irresistible!