our patisserie

not only my new favorite food blog-but also what our kitchen felt like today.

after eating the most delicious macaroon cookie i have ever eaten at the foundry grill at sundance and then calling them to see if i could order some (i could not, nor would they give out their pastry chef's recipe) i decided to search the web for a reliable and fairly simple recipe.  joakitchen really hooked it up.

we finally tried out this recipe for pistachio macaroons (and if you're feeling fancy-i guess technically they are called macarons, somehow that just doesn't sound as appealing):

Pistachio Macaron Batter:

• 1 ¼ cups confectioner's sugar
• 4 oz pistachios
• ¼ cup plus 2 tbsps egg whites at room temperature
• pinch of salt
• ¼ cup sugar

Pistachio Filling:

• 1 1/2 oz pistachios
• 1 c confectioner's sugar
• 6 tbs softened butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  

Preheat your oven to 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Process the pistachios with powdered sugar until you get fine pistachio flour. (I processed for 3 1-minute intervals mixing with a spatula between each.)

In a greaseless bowl, combine the egg whites with the pinch of salt. Beat on medium power until soft peaks start to form. Increase the speed, gradually beat in the sugar and continue to whip until stiff and firm peaks form, about 2 minutes. Sieve the pistachio flour and fold it into the egg whites in two batches, mixing with a spatula just until no streaks remain. This will seem to be a lot of pistachio flour for the amount of egg whites you have, but it will work out.

Scrape the batter into a pastry bag with a round tip. Pipe 1" circles of macaron batter about 1" apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Rap the baking sheets firmly on the table to remove air bubbles. Let rest for about an hour until the macarons develop a skin. Bake for 10 minutes.

For the filling, process the pistachios and the confectioner's sugar just like you did for the macaron batter. Cream this with the softened butter until uniformly mixed.

Cool the macarons completely before you remove them from the parchment. Pair similar sized ones and glue them with some pistachio filling. I feel that the macarons benefit from an overnight rest in the refrigerator, but they can be enjoyed immediately, too.

and while ours did not look as good as the ones on the website; i still think they turned out pretty good for our first try.  they were also awesome.

(this is what the macarons look like when they are in the resting stage)

(and these are the complete macarons... slightly more golden-brown than i was going for)