Pistachio Praline Macarons

I finally finished editing my very first video recipe.
Definitely have a new found respect for movie editors. I have no idea how long something like that would take. Like, this video is only 6 minutes and it took hours. I did most of it on a plane ride to distract myself from the length of the journey.

But, I don't think it helped that I have almost no experience in editing videos. I mean yeah, I did the occasional high school video project.

But those were bad.
Mostly on purpose.
They were more funny that way.

There was also so much equipment that I needed to buy to make this video at least slightly visually appealing. Glass bowls, a tabletop induction burner, a video camera...
It also doesn't help that I have actually the ugliest kitchen, so I had to improvise a kitchen-like setup elsewhere in my house. (Hence the induction burner purchase)
Obviously this is a big commitment so I'll be trying to make many more videos in the future. Hopefully this will improve my videography skills! Level up.

Pistachio Praline Macarons

Makes about 20 macarons

Macaron Shells

100g                         ground almonds
200g                         icing sugar
100g                         egg whites
4 tbsp                        castor sugar
1-2 drops                  green gel food colouring

Sift the ground almonds into a medium sized bowl. Dispose of any large lumps. Measure them out again, add more if needed, sift again with the icing sugar. Set aside. In a large bowl whip the egg whites until foamy. Add the sugar 1 table spoon at a time and whip until it holds stiff peaks. Add green food colouring.
Dump 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the egg whites. Fold from top to bottom scraping down the sides. Add the second 1/3 and repeat. Add the last 1/3 and fold until it forms ribbons. When dropped from a spoon it should take 15 seconds to flatten out. Don't over mix!
Fill a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe onto a trays lined with parchment paper. Don't pipe too big, 1" is enough. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Let your cookies sit at room temperature until they form a dry "skin", this will help for feet. When you tap them it shouldn't be sticky.
Bake for 8-10 minutes. You can test by touching the sides, if they wobble they are not done. Let the shells cool before removing from the sheet.

Pistachio Praline Buttercream

1 egg white
1 tbsp               sugar
1/2 cup             unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup             pistachio praline

In a heatproof bowl over a double boiler, place the egg white and sugar. Whisk lightly until mixture reaches 155 degrees. Remove from heat. With electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat until stiff peaks form and mixture has cooled.
Add the butter a bit at a time beating well in-between each addition. Beat until all butter has been added and is light, pale and fluffy. Lastly, add the pistachio praline and mix.

Transfer buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe a dollop of buttercream on half of the backsides of your macaron shells. Sandwich two cookies together, and repeat until all macarons are done.
Best if eaten first few days after being filled. Store in fridge, serve at room temperature. Enjoy!

Okay real talk about macarons. I don't understand them. Long story short.
I've been using the same recipe for years and somehow they can turn out different each time. These ones in particular have different looking feet than normal?
I mean I can't really complain, they worked at least. But being the perfectionist I am I can't help but question the macaron.
Be sure to check out my video tutorial on this recipe. Let me know how I did!

Cheers,

Elanne Boake