Ever since adopting Pierre Hermé's macaron-making methods and proportions, I have never failed in my macarons. They came out exactly the way I want them EVERY TIME. Letting this recent streak of success get to my head, I decided to change up the recipe a bit. I substituted half the portion of almonds with pistachios, hoping to enhance the pistachio flavor. And I failed. Miserably. The shells came out with very little, if any, feet. They were flat as a pancake and the texture was too soft and chewy, lacking that signature "eggshell crunch" of a true macaron. So I baked a second batch with the original recipe, followed it to a tee, and guess what? Perfect shells. Please accept my most sincere apologies, Monsieur Hermé, I will never, ever, mess with your genius recipes again.
As for the ganache filling, I wanted noticeable bits of pistachio pieces, so they were ground coarsely by the food processor, then incorporated into the chocolate. Dark chocolate was ruled out, as the dark intense flavors would definitely overpower the pistachios. White chocolate was a suitable candidate, but was also ruled out, since I didn't have enough on hand. So I resorted to using both dark and white chocolate in the ganache, mostly white with a small portion of dark. The resulting ganache was quite a pleasant surprise! The white chocolate allowed the pistachio flavor to shine, while the little amount of 85% dark chocolate gave a slight bitterness and cuts the sweetness of the white chocolate.
For the macaron shells:
150g ground almonds
150g icing sugar
55g 'liquefied' egg whites
2g green food coloring
+
150g caster sugar
35g mineral water
55g 'liquefied' egg whites
For the pistachio ganache:
80g shelled, unsalted pistachio
150g white chocolate
50g dark chocolate (85% cocoa)
150g whipping cream (35% fat)
30g unsalted butter, at room temperature
More details regarding the egg whites can be found in my previous macaron post here.
For the shells. Sift together the icing sugar and ground almonds. Stir the food coloring into the first portion of liquefied egg whites and pour them over the mixture of icing sugar and ground almonds but do not stir.
Bring
the water and sugar to boil at 118°C. When the syrup reaches 115°C,
simultaneously start whisking the second portion of liquefied egg whites
to soft peaks.
When the sugar reaches 118°C, pour it over the egg whites (while continuously beating on low speed).
Whisk
and allow the meringue to cool down to 50°C, then fold it into the
almond-icing sugar mixture. (The batter is ready when it becomes glossy
and start to resemble a thick pancake batter.) Spoon the batter into a
piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle.
Pipe
rounds of batter about 3.5 cm in diameter, spacing them 2 cm apart on
baking trays lined with baking parchment. Rap the baking trays on the
work surface covered with a kitchen cloth. Leave the shells to stand
for at least 30 minutes until they form a skin. (When you touch the tops, the batter should not stick to your finger.)
Preheat
the fan oven to 180°C then put the trays in the oven. Bake for 12
minutes quickly opening and shutting the oven door twice during the
cooking time. (Once at the 8 minute mark and once at the 10 minute
mark.) Out of the oven, slide the shells on to the work surface.
For
the pistachio ganache. Coarsely ground the pistachios in a food processor. Chop up both
chocolate and melt it in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.
Bring
the cream to a boil. Pour it over the melted
chocolate a third at a time. Stir in butter. Add the ground pistachios and stir.
Pour
the ganache into a gratin dish and press clingfilm over the surface of
the ganache. Set aside in the fridge for the ganache to thicken.
Spoon
the ganache into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Pipe a mound
of ganache on to half the shells. Top with the
remaining shells.
Finished macarons can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
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