Lemon pistachio macaron
Macaron shells
150g icing sugar
150g fine ground almond powder
55g liquid egg whites at room temperature
55g liquid egg whites at room temperature
40g water
150g caster sugar
0.1 yellow food coloring or 0.1 pistachio green coloring for the green mix
Lemon curd
40g lemon juice
40g lime juice
The zest of a yellow lemon and a lime
200g eggs (4 whole eggs)
100g sugar
125g butter
10g cornflour
Pistachio Praline
215g pistachio nuts
38g water
150g sugar
1g sea salt
Instructions
Macaron shells
Sift the almond powder and the icing sugar. Put the almond powder with the icing sugar, the food coloring and 55g of egg whites in the mixer using the paddle and mix on a low speed till they are fully mixed. Transfer this mix in a bowl and cover with cling film to touch.
In the mixing bowl place the second amount of egg whites(55g). With the caster sugar and the water make a syrup and when the syrup is at 107C start whisking the egg whites in the mixer. When the syrup is at 119.5C pour it slowly in the mixer on a low speed and after 2 minutes increase the speed. When your meringue is at 35-40C is ready to mix with the almond mix. I always use a scraper and add the meringue in 3 times.
When you fold the meringue with the almond sugar mixture it will start off looking really rough but as you continue folding if will become silkier and begin to flow off the spatula in a slow, thick and steady drizzle. You’ll want to deflate some of the bubbles in the mixture so you can gently swipe the spatula over the surface of the batter to help remove some of them. Transfer batter to a piping bag fitted with a round tip, I usually use a 12 tip. Pipe onto a sheet of parchment paper fixed to a baking sheet or on a silpat for better shape results.
Lemon curd
In advance, mix the sugar and lemon zest. Bring the lemon and lime juice to the boil. Whisk the eggs with the sugar and cornflour. Pour half of the hot juice over it, still whisking, then pour it back into the pan. Cook over medium heat stiring with a whisk till you get a custard texture. Pass it through a sieve on top of the butter and blitz it using a hand blender.Keep it in a container in the fridge. Before using paddle it in the mixing bowl to get a smooth texture again and place it in a piping bag with a round tip.
Pistachio praline
Put the water and sugar in a pan. When the caramel reaches 116C, add the pistachios and the salt and stir over low heat until the pistachios are well coated with caramel.
Pour them on a sheet of baking paper and leave to cool completely. Now you just have to blitz it until you obtain a smooth creamy texture. Put it in a piping bag and keep at room temperature.
Assembling the macarons
Match your macarons so that they are similar in size and pipe the lemon curd leaving a gap in the middle in order to fill this up with a generous amount of pistachio praline and then form a sandwich with the second macaron.