Pistachio Berry Macarons

I needed to find another flavor combination to add to my macaron repertoire. Since pistachio pairs well with any type of berry, I thought it would be good to make pistachio macarons. However, the trick was to figure out how to incorporate the berries. Finally, I was able to come up with well-balanced pistachio berry macarons.

I’ve played with pistachio and berries on a bake before. If you’ve been following my blog, you might remember my first attempt at an entremet using pistachio and strawberries as my base flavors. That was definitely challenging to make. BUT, I realized how delicious pistachios are in baked goods, especially when we add berries to the equation.

These pistachio berry macarons are also actually inspired by a blackberry pistachio donut my husband and I had at our favorite locale donut shop. He was the one who suggested for me to make something similar in macarons. If you’re interested in knowing more about that donut place, read this lifestyle post I wrote on it!

The Approach

Initially, I wasn’t too sure on how to go about putting the flavors together in a macaron. But eventually, I stuck with a classic buttercream. I piped a big dollop of the pistachio buttercream in the middle on my shell. Then, I piped my berry jam right into the middle of the buttercream, starting slightly towards the bottom and slowly squeezing until you see the jam filling up to the top.

You are more than welcome to use any berry jam you want. Heck, you can even make your own! Personally, I’ve already done enough work just making these pistachio berry macarons. So to save myself some time, I opted to just use pre-made jam. For these in particular, I used Bonne Maman Four Fruits Preserves. It piped pretty easily, too.

The Colors

For this, I wanted to mimic the pistachios and berries. So, I decided to do a bit of a marbling effect. Actually, this is my first time attempting a marbling effect on macarons. I’ve always wanted to learn different ways to decorate macaron shells. For beginners like me, though, I feel like marbling would be an easy transition as it doesn’t take a lot of time to do. Plus, I wouldn’t need icing sugar or any other extra decorating gear to produce something pretty.

As for the colors, this will really depend on the brand you use, but for me, I use Cake Craft’s food coloring gel. For the batter, I used one drop of leaf green and two drops of java brown to make it look like pistachio green. Then, I streaked a bit of funky fuchsia and deep purple on the inside of my piping bag. It kinda has that tie-dye effect, doesn’t it?

Tools you’ll need

Pistachio Berry Macarons

Serves: 20 shells; 10 paired macarons Prep Time: 1 hour + 15 minutes Cooking Time: 15 minutes 15 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 3 voted )

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Ingredients

Macaron shells

• 62 g egg whites
• 58 g caster sugar (or regular white sugar will do)
• 66 g powdered sugar
• 74 g almond flour

 

Pistachio buttercream + berry jam

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened, room temp)
• 22 g pistachio paste
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup Bonne Maman Four Fruits Preserve (or any berry jam you want)

Instructions

1. Boil water in a small pot. Place your egg whites and caster sugar in a mixing bowl and place it on top of the pot, making sure the boiling water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. This is called a double boiler, making sure you're cooking the egg whites low and slow. Keep whisking until the egg white-sugar mixture reaches 130°F.
2. Pulse the almond flour and powdered sugar in a food processor until there are no significant lumps left. Be careful to not process it so much that it turns into a paste. About 5-7 pulses should do the trick.
3. In a stand mixer, mix the cooked egg white-sugar mixture on medium low (4 on the KitchenAid stand mixer) until it gets foamy. Then mix on medium (6 on KA) until soft peaks form. Before getting it to stiff peaks, you can add your food coloring gel at this stage. Then, turn it up to medium high (8 on KA) until stiff peaks.
4. Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar mixture into the stand mixer bowl and mix on the lowest setting, just enough to incorporate the dry ingredients in.
5. With a rubber spatula, fold the macaron batter until it reaches a lava-like consistency.
6. Pipe the batter into a lined baking sheet. I highly recommend using a template. I always use a template because my piping is not very stable. Let it rest for at least 40 minutes until it forms a bit of skin on the top.
7. While your macarons rest, preheat your oven to 300°F.
8. Bake the macarons for 15 minutes.
9. While your macaron shells bake, you can work on your pistachio buttercream. In a stand mixer, beat your softened, room temperature unsalted butter until soft and fluffy. Scrape the sides on your bowl with a silicone spatula. Then add your pistachio paste to your butter and beat some more. Finally, add your powdered sugar, then beat until your buttercream comes together. Put it in a piping and chill until you're ready to pipe.
10. Meanwhile, you can also put your berry jam in a piping bag. This will make things cleaner and a little easier.
11. After your macarons bake, let it cool for at least 40 minutes. Once they're cool, pipe a big dollop of the pistachio buttercream in the middle on half of the shells. After that, pipe the berry jam right into the middle of the buttercream, starting slightly towards the bottom and slowly squeezing until you see the jam filling up to the top. Then top off with your remaining shells. Enjoy these pistachio berry macarons!

There’s not really a golden ratio for the macaron shells. However, I did end up stumbling upon a ratio of the ingredients that works for me, specifically for the Swiss meringue method. Feel free to use the calculator below (coded with the mentioned ratio) by entering the weight of your egg whites in grams. It will then provide you with the weight in grams for the almond flour, caster sugar, and powdered sugar.

Helpful Tip

If you’re like me, and you’re impatient, you’re gonna want to speed up the process in whatever way you can. Thankfully, my husband is a gear-do (a weirdo, but with gear). For one Christmas, he got me this awesome small portable fan (among other baking-related gifts, of course). It’s such a game-changer! I use it to speed up the resting process that forms the skin on the macaron shells, and of course the cooling down stage after baking.

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