As the old adage goes “practice makes perfect”.  I practiced baking macarons a million times over and I eventually started to bake more hits than misses.  My macaron making stamina was driven by my wedding as I was dead set on having these Parisian delights boxed as my favours.  When the wedding was over, my baking frequency decreased and I was back at a hit and miss macaron success rate.

My last 2 macaron batches before this one were huge flops; lopsided blobs of mush [I think I was over mixing the batter].  When I received a box filled with pistachios from a friend one day, I took it as a challenge to overcome my 0-2 record.  Like any normal person would do after receiving a box full of pistachios, I spent that evening on my couch in front of the TV shelling the entire box. With numb fingers I was on my way to having pistachio flour.

To ensure a successful batch, instead of following my usual point form recipe notes, I decided to go back to basics and re-read + carefully follow the original [Laduree] macaron recipe.

The only step I could pick out that I neglected to do/mention in my first macaron post was the following:

[refer to the original macaron recipe]
In step [2] **once the egg whites start to froth add 1/3 of the granulated sugar + mix until dissolved; add the next 1/3rd + let mix for 1minute; add the final 1/3 + let mix for 1 more minute.

This may or may not have been the source of my over-mixing, but as it stands this is all I have to go off of; ergo adding the new step = success!!!

To make these pistachio macarons, I substituted the almond flour in the recipe with the  pistachio flour I made [pistachios + grinder + sieve].

I was having difficulty creating a recipe for a pistachio ganache so I did the next best thing, I filled the  shells with an almond ganache

…almond ganache…
12 oz chopped white chocolate
1/2 tbsp of almond extract
1c heavy cream
green food colouring

mix together cream + almond extract in sauce pan | bring to boil on med-high heat
remove from heat + let sit for 5 minutes | bring mixture back to boil over med-high heat
pour directly onto chocolate to melt | mix until completely smooth
add food colour
pour ganache into shallow dish and let cool @ room temp
cover surface with plastic wrap directly touching ganache surface | refrigerate for a couple hours-over night
to add extra texture, whip ganache for a couple minutes before pipping [it should be similar consistency to toothpaste]

-practice makes perfect and tastes even better