Pecan Pumpkin Macs

I have started calling macarons “macs” in conversation with Todd.  It just makes things easier, plus I think it sounds cool.  And, yes, that means that I do have conversations with Todd about macs…

I made some macs using ground pecans instead of almonds and let me tell you, the flavor was amazing.  But it wasn’t easy!  Pecans are a much oilier nut than almonds, plus I have the luxury of being able to buy ground almonds (almond meal) and with pecans, I had to make it myself.

Pecan Macarons (adapted from Les Petits Macarons)
Makes about 40 1” sandwiched macarons

About 1.5 c whole pecans (to make 5.8 oz ground pecans)
5.8 oz powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
4.1 oz egg whites
½ t cream of tartar
5.3 oz sugar

Coarsely chop the nuts and place in your food processor.  Pulse for 3 second intervals, stopping about every 4 times to scrape the sides of the bowl.  This helps to keep the nuts from getting sticky or turning into a paste.  Pulse a total of about 20-30 times.  (I did 20 and they were starting to turn into a paste, so I stopped.)  Don’t wash your food processor bowl, because you are going to use it again soon and you don’t want it to be wet at all. Sift the nuts (if you’d like, my sieve was too fine) onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake at 200 F for about 30 minutes to dry out.  Cool completely, and then combine with powdered sugar and salt in the food processor and pulse to combine.  Remove and place in a large bowl and set aside.

Whisk the cream of tartar and egg whites to soft peaks in your mixer bowl.  While the whites are whipping, combine sugar with 2 oz water in a medium saucepan and heat to 235 F.  You may need to stir initially to combine, but once the syrup is boiling, it will stir itself.  Use a pastry brush dipped in ice water to wash down the sides of the saucepan if crystals are forming.  (Sugar crystals can quickly form a network and ruin your sugar syrup, so it is definitely necessary to wash them down if you see any.)

When the syrup is at 235 F and the whites are at soft peaks, quickly and carefully pour the hot sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the whipping egg whites.  I’ve also written before that you can turn the mixer off, dump the syrup in and immediately begin whipping again at high speed.  Doesn’t matter which way you do it, but you want to be quick to avoid cooking the egg whites and be careful not to let hot syrup hit the moving whisk so that it doesn’t go everywhere!  Whip the meringue until it cools slightly and is glossy and stiff.  Spoon the meringue into the center of the dry ingredients and fold to incorporate.  Remember that the final product should look like hot, flowing magma!

Put the batter into a bag and pipe uniform size shells on parchment-lined baking sheets.  (See the picture below where I show the template I used for these batches.)

Don’t forget to double-stack your baking pans.  If you’ve read previous posts, you know I’ve had success baking in my oven at 325 F for about 14 minutes.  The author of this recipe, however, recommends baking at 200 F for 15 minutes then increasing the temperature to 350 F and bake another 9 minutes.  So, I tried it.  There could not be a better way to know that each person needs to get to know their own oven when baking macs!  After 10 minutes or so at the low temperature, my macarons were exploding in the oven, although I did notice a foot.  I immediately turned the oven up to 350 F and attempted to correct the process by increasing the heat.  Although the first batch of macs tasted great, they weren’t very pretty.

I baked a second batch, for 14 minutes at 325 F and they came out beautifully!

This recipe calls for the addition of cream of tartar, an ingredient I haven’t used previously in my mac recipes (although I am very familiar with its use in meringues).  Cream of tartar is known chemically as postassium bitartrate.  It serves to stabilize egg whites and allows them better tolerance of higher temperatures, as well as bigger volume.

Pumpkin-Bourbon Buttercream
Makes a little over a pint

To one pint of Italian Meringue Buttercream (outlined previously here), add the following ingredients:

1 T bourbon
1 c pumpkin puree
1 t cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
½ t grated nutmeg
¼ t ground cloves

Whip with whisk until emulsified.  If the mixture appears grainy and not smooth, it’s not yet emulsified.  Often, you can get it there by turning up the speed of the mixer or by slightly warming the bottom of your mixing bowl.  If those things don’t work, you can always add more butter, 1 T at a time.

(Macaron) Paradise Found…

I am shell-shocked (macaron shell, that is), floating in a sugar-buzzed paradise. Some of you who have been to Paris may understand me when I speak of macaron bliss. They are just so…yummy. A perfect combination of flavor and texture, smooth and crunch and moist and sweet. Melt in your mouth good.

I can tell you that WAY TOO MANY of these melted in MY mouth today. I’ve been experimenting with macarons lately and decided to try my hand at a pistachio flavor after spying a half-bag of shelled pistachios in our pantry. (Shelling enough pistachios to make cookies and filling would have taken all day in and of itself, so I’m happy to have a source for shelled ones.)

The nice thing about macarons is that the flavors and combinations are limited only by the imagination. (The actual outcome is limited by much more, including the heat and humidity of the house, the temp of the oven, the consistency of the batter, the age of the egg whites, the number of pans, the amount of time you let the macaron sit before you bake them!)

I decided to test some of these theories, as well as to put together a recipe entirely from scratch, in the making of these pistachio macaron (macaron de pistache). How ’bout that?!?! OOOH LA LA!

Pistachio Macaron
makes about 100 filled macaron, approx 1″

5.2 oz egg whites (I did not age these at all, they came right out of the fridge)
3.5 oz almond flour
3.5 oz pistachios, finely ground
7 oz powdered sugar
7 oz granulated sugar
1.7 fl oz water

Preheat your oven to 325°F. Prepare baking sheets by cutting parchment paper to fit. You will also need to double-stack your baking sheets, so make sure to use ones that fit into each other.

Begin by pulsing powdered sugar, almond flour and pistachios in a food processor until homogeneous. Depending on how finely the pistachio was ground, you may or may not decide to sift the mixture. (I did not, since I couldn’t grind the pistachio finely enough and didn’t want to lose it in the sifter.) Place in a large (HUGE) bowl and set aside. Divide your egg whites in half (exactly, I use a scale), placing half in a small bowl and the other half in the bowl of your stand mixer.

Place granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until the sugar syrup reaches 244°F. While the sugar syrup is cooking, you can go ahead and get the mixer going, the egg whites should whip to firm peaks. If they are not there by the time your syrup is close to temperature, go ahead and turn the mixer up briefly to high just to make sure that the whites are firm. Once the syrup is at temperature and the whites are firm peaks, stop the mixer briefly and dump the sugar syrup into the whites. Immediately turn the mixer on high (do not let this sit for any amount of time or the sugar syrup will begin to solidify) and whip until resulting meringue has cooled.

Pour the reserved egg white over the dry mix, then add the meringue. Use a spatula to fold both into the dry mix, aiming for a consistent and smooth batter that flows like LAVA! (Someday soon I will take a video clip of this and post.)

Place the batter into a decorating bag fitted with a round tip (I used a #9) and squeeze a small amount under each corner of the parchment paper, just to secure it while baking. Using a squeezing motion (not circular), pipe equal sized amounts of batter evenly across the baking sheet, leaving an inch or so in between to allow for the spread of the batter. If your macaron have peaks or tips on them, you can very carefully dab a finger into some water and gently tap on the peak to smooth it out. Water should not get on the cookie, just help your finger to keep from sticking.

When the tray is full, you can gently tap the baking sheet against the counter. Some people recommend letting the macaron sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to several hours to form a skin prior to baking, but I am not convinced this is necessary. I popped these right into the oven.

After about 5-7 minutes in the oven, you should start to see the macaron “rise” onto its “feet.” This is the MOST exciting part!! Except when it doesn’t happen. Most of today’s macaron did rise up on their little frilly feet, so I was happy! Total baking time depends on the size of the macaron, but I baked each tray for approximately 14 minutes at this size. The macaron are ready when they only move slightly on their feet if you nudge them.

Take the tray from the oven, let the macaron cool briefly before removing them from the parchment.

Since these macaron were actually made with pistachios, I expected the cookie itself to have a pistachio flavor. AND IT DID! Yum. Often, the flavor of a macaron is most pronounced within the filling that is chosen. I couldn’t decide what to sandwich inside of these, so I tried a number of different fillings. And….I’m gonna tell you which one I liked the best. (Todd agreed with me, without my prompting.)

I knew I’d want a pistachio filling, but wasn’t sure if chocolate would be complimentary or overwhelming. I made a pistachio paste using the following (rough) recipe.

Pistachio Paste
makes about a cup

4 oz pistachios
1 oz almond flour
1 drop almond extract (optional)
2 oz sugar
~ 1 T water + 2 tsp water

Grind pistachios with almond flour in a food processor, add 1 drop almond extract and mix, set aside. In a small saucepan, heat sugar with 1 T water over medium-high heat to make a sugar syrup. Cook to about 250°F, remove from heat and immediately blend into the pistachio mixture until homogeneous. Add a teaspoonful of water, one at a time, until the paste is of the desired consistency. Store in a plastic bag in the freezer. Keeps for, oh, I don’t know, say about a month. I just made it today, so it can be used right away. This can be added to ganaches, buttercreams, etc, to impart pistachio flavor.

I made the following combinations:
1. pistachio macaron + dark chocolate ganache filling
2. pistachio macaron + dark chocolate pistachio ganache filling
3. pistachio macaron + buttercream filling
4. pistachio macaron + chocolate buttercream filling
5. pistachio macaron + chocolate pistachio buttercream filling
6. pistachio macaron + pistachio buttercream filling

In general, the chocolate ganache fillings just didn’t work with this. The flavor was too strong and overwhelmed the delicate flavor of the pistachio in the macaron. The pistachio macaron with (plain) buttercream was good, but definitely missing something. There were 2 combinations I felt were “pretty good (#4 and 5 above),” and one that was a homerun (#6). Yes, the pistachio cookie with the pistachio buttercream filling was JUST RIGHT. So much pistachio flavor and chewy, crunchy, moist, silky goodness.

Paradise Found…