I've had my eye on these Pistachio Macaroons since I first received my copy of Nigella's "How To Be A Domestic Goddess". They just looked so delicate and unusual, especially as I hadn't encountered the delights of French macarons at that point. Having now made them, they really are just as gorgeous as they look. The pistachio taste in the macaroons themselves is very delicate, but very much stronger in the buttercream. I love the bright green colour of the buttercream too!
I made a slight alteration to the recipe in that I peeled the pistachios to enhance the overall greeness of the macaroons. Peeling pistachios is much easier than it sounds. I just brought a medium saucepan-full of water to a boil, chucked in all the pistachios for the recipe, and boiled for exactly one minute. I then drained them off, put them in the centre of a tea towel, and then rubbed them madly with the towel. The papery skins slid off easily. I've never actually paid much attention to pistachios before, so I was amazed at their bright green colour. Very pretty indeed!
An American copy of the recipe can be found here, so I'll just give you the British measurements.
Macaroons
75g pistachios
125g icing sugar
2 large egg whites
15g caster sugar
Buttercream
55g pistachios
250g icing sugar
125g unsalted butter
The macaroons weren't quite perfect unfortunately. Whilst I followed Nigella's recipe to the letter, I had intended to follow Pierre Herme's instruction to bash the baking sheet (complete with piped macaroons) onto the counter to eliminate excess air from the macaroons. So, the macaroons were a bit squidgier and much more delicate than they should have been. Neverless, they were absolutely delicious.
The buttercream recipe can (and should be) halved as in its original measurements makes almost twice the amount necessary to fill the macaroons. I filled each macaroon pair very generously and still had lots left over. I'm going to use the left over buttercream as a filling for butterflied fairy cakes later this week, or I might just be really naughty and eat it straight from the bowl. It's that yummy!
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I tried making these and the macaroons turned out SO flat. I thought my meringue was stiff enough...any suggestions?
1. Posted by Carly on July 3, 2007
Hey Carly
I found the same thing. I have made the macaroons twice now and they were flat as pancakes. I don't know whats going wrong. The second time I made the meringue stiffer and it made no difference. It certainly didn't look like Nigella's recipe
2. Posted by Reet on September 10, 2007
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I made these too once and I think gained 10 pounds just from being unable to resist them. I'll have to make them again one of these days, as long as I can share them.
3. Posted by Leah on November 19, 2007
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I have tried to make these macaroons
7 times and have not been very successful. I think I might be doing something wrong with the egg whites. Is there a secret to making macaroons? Also, I can't get them off of the wax paper when they are finished. Help! Yours look great.
4. Posted by Melissa on November 19, 2007
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Melissa, the bowl or utensils that you will be using to whip the egg whites must be very clean. No drip of water, no oil, clean! Clean utensils is the key to get the egg whites raise.
When you whip the egg whites (hopefully with a machine), make sure it raises to form a peak (not hard not soft).
Good luck.
5. Posted by Chris on November 19, 2007
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Hi Melissa - the eggwhites should be whisked very stiffly and once the powder (sugar & nuts) is folded in, the mixture should be evenly coloured and texture-wise, should flow like magma.
To successfully remove the macarons from the baking parchment, you need to carefully pour some boiling water between the baking sheet and the parchment as soon as they come out of the oven. This creates steam and allows you to easily remove the macarons.
Good luck!!
6. Posted by Angela on November 19, 2007