A Tale of Two Macarons (Part II)

Today, I continue posting about my holiday macarons. What makes these macarons festive is not their flavor, but their appearance. These are my usual pistachio macarons, spruced up to look like Christmas wreaths, which were perfect for my holiday cookie box.

Yup, these macarons are basically normal pistachio macarons with holes in the middle and bows piped on. Interesting how these two small changes can turn a typical round macaron into a holiday macaron.

Pistachio Macarons

adapted from A la cuisine

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
1/2 cup finely ground pistachios
3 egg whites, aged at room temperature for 48 hours
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
green food coloring

Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper. Print out the wreath stencil I provided below, or draw your own stencil (1" diameter wreaths). Tape two sheets of blank printer paper together to form a large sheet about the size of your parchment. Trace the stencil onto the now large sheet of paper. Set aside for now.

Mix the powdered sugar, ground pistachios, and ground almonds together. In a clean bowl, add your aged egg whites and salt. With an electric mixer, beat on low until frothy. Turn up the mixer to high and slowly add in the granulated sugar as you continue to mix till the whites are stiff peaks (when you lift up the mixer, there should literally be stiff, shiny peaks). Add in the green food coloring and mix a few more seconds.

With a spatula, gently fold in the powdered sugar/nut mixture until incorporated. Place a plain piping tip in a piping bag and fill the bag with your macaron batter. Now take that large wreath stenciled paper and place it under a piece of parchment and use it to guide you as you pipe out your macarons. When done, slide out that paper and place it under your other parchment and repeat.

Let your macarons dry for a few hours, until the tops are completely dry. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Bake your trays one at a time for 8-10 minutes or until the macarons are set on top. Let them cool on the parchment on a cooling rack. When cool, carefully peel the shells off the parchment.

Pair all the macarons up by matching size. Fill a piping bag with pistachio filling (recipe below), pipe filling onto one half of a pair, and sandwich the filling with the matching macaron shell. Once done, refrigerate the macarons to let the flavors meld.

Pistachio Filling

1/2 stick salted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup ground pistachios

Cream the butter and sugar together. Mix in the ground pistachios.

Putting Bows on Wreaths

red candy melts

Melt the red candy melts. Fill a small plain tipped piping bag with the melted candy. Pipe the bows onto your macarons as pictured above.