Pistachio and Cherry Macarons

Products Used

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Pistachio and Cherry Macarons

Ingredients

Macarons

4.5 ounces (1 3/4 cups) almond flour or meal
7.5 ounces (2 cups minus 3 tablespoons) Dixie Crystals Confectioners Powdered Sugar
Pinch salt
1/2 cup egg whites, no yolk traces
2 tablespoons Dixie Crystals Extra Fine Granulated Sugar
5 drops green food color in gel or paste form
1 teaspoon almond extract*

Filling

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, soft
1 cup Dixie Crystals Confectioners Powdered Sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 jar cherry fruit spread or jam

Finishing

1/3 cup white chocolate wafers
1/2 cup pistachios

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°F. Set aside 3 cookie sheets lined with silicone baking mats or lined with parchment paper.
Fit a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch (Ateco 806) plain, round pastry tip and set aside.
Combine almond flour/meal, powdered sugar, and salt in a food processor and mix until almond flour is super fine. Set aside.
In a bowl whip egg whites and granulated sugar to very stiff peaks.
Stop whipping and immediately add food color, almond extract, and almond meal mixture. Using a rubber spatula mix until batter is smooth, but do not overmix to avoid making batter too runny. Batter should appear like thick pancake batter.
Fill pastry bag with filling and pipe quarter size and dome shaped mounds onto prepared sheets about 1 inch apart. Macarons will spread a little just after piping.
Allow macarons to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before placing in oven. However, if you notice that macarons are still spreading and not holding their shape place immediately in oven.
Bake for about 15-17 minutes or until you can lift one up from baking sheet without tearing it apart. If you see golden or light brown color develop on surface they are completely done.
Mash or briefly blend cherry jam to create a less chunky product and set aside.
Mix soft butter until creamy. Add powdered sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla extract.
Flip half of macarons upside down.
Fill cream in a piping bag with a small round tip and pipe a border onto edge of flipped over macarons. Fill center with cherry fruit spread and sandwich macarons.
Set aside about 40 pistachio halves. Chop remaining pistachios coarse.
Melt white chocolate wafers and drizzle chocolate over macarons. Immediately place a pistachio half in center and sprinkle with coarse chopped pistachios.
Macarons have best consistency and flavor when left one day in a refrigerator.

Dixie Crystals Insight

Almond extract is often used in commercial pistachio ice creams as great tasting pistachio extract is very difficult to find.
For more macaron tips, read Chef Eddy's Tips for the Perfect French Macaron.

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