Preheat oven to 300°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
Heat a small pot of water over medium heat until it steams. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine egg whites and granulated sugar. Place bowl over steaming pot, creating a double boiler.
Whisk egg whites and sugar until sugar melts completely and egg whites become white and frothy, 1 to 1.5 minutes. Remove from heat and place bowl back onto standing mixer.
Fit standing mixer with whisk attachment and whisk on high speed for 2-3 minutes, until stiff peaks form. Congratulations, you just made a Swiss meringue!
Sift together almond flour and powdered sugar, then gently shake into meringue bowl. Drizzle in pistachio paste and green food coloring (if using).
Place bowl onto stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Turn mixer to medium speed and whisk for 10 seconds. Stop mixer and use a spatula to scoop up some of the batter. If you can make a figure-eight with the dripping batter without the batter breaking, you can stop. But most likely you will need another 5-10 seconds. So repeat process, and try the figure-eight again. The best way to describe the perfect consistency is like slow moving lava. It should give, but only slightly, like in slow-motion.
Once your batter is the correct consistency, scoop it into a large pastry bag fitted with a 1 inch tip. Pipe silver dollar-sized circles onto prepared baking sheets, keeping about 1.5 inches between each meringue. Bang baking sheet on counter two times to remove any air bubbles. Sprinkle tops with a little sea salt as a garnish.
Here’s the fun part: you don’t need to let them air dry. Just pop them into the prepared oven for 13 minutes, turning around halfway through, then allow to cool completely before removing from baking sheets.
While the macarons are baking, make the ganache. In a small microwave-safe bowl, microwave the heavy cream for 45 seconds. Remove, then stir in white chocolate, pistachio paste, and green food coloring (if using).
Scoop mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1/2 inch tip, and place in the fridge to harden (about 20 minutes).
Once you’re ready, pipe the ganache onto a macaron and sandwich with another macaron. Repeat with all macarons.
Reviews
Debs on 2017-03-28 (5 stars): These macs look perfect Sarah! In the pastry kitchen I work in we use an Italian meringue and it's super forgiving. I've had to make hundreds in a day before and I would definitely get you helping if you lived closer! Stunning!
Susan Conley @ Cookthestone on 2017-04-05 (5 stars): looks fantastic!!!1 I really need this macarons to satisfy my sweet tooth!!! ?
Naki on 2019-11-08 (5 stars): Thank you! I tried this recipe and it came out great! Tried other ones before and didn’t turn out so well not sure why haha. But this one definitely works for me so thank you again for this recipe! I didn’t use pistachios but still turned out great!
Momenat sohaib on 2020-05-28 (5 stars): Hi Sarah, I was hoping if you could post a video of the whole process especially of the Macoranage in the stand mixer. Thanks
Momenat sohaib on 2020-05-29 (5 stars): Thanks Sarah, really looking forward to your macoranage video in the stand mixer. Thank you
Riley on 2020-06-12 (5 stars): can I use a handheld mixer if I don’t have a stand mixer? I’m a college student who doesn’t have much money.
chavi on 2020-07-07 (4 stars): hello, i made my own pistachio paste, but otherwise followed the recipe, and my macarons have turned very flat, and so have gone a bit burnt. any tips on what ive done wrong?!
Emily on 2020-12-19 (5 stars): Hi! Loving your recipes & was super excited to try out these macarons, but I can’t seem to find pistachio paste locally.. I was wondering if there is any substitute I could use instead?
Rachel Aspuria on 2021-03-05 (4 stars): These came out a lot thicker than French Macarons and tasted amazing! Only complaint is that the filling did not harden up, even after I put it in the freezer. Any suggestions?
Nicole on 2021-03-18 (5 stars): I only made the filling from this recipe, and it was absolutely delicious! For anyone who doesn’t weigh their ingredients, I used 1/2 cup cream, 1 1/2 cups of white chocolate chips, and 2 tbsp pistachio paste. Perfect!
Adeem on 2021-05-20 (5 stars): Absolutely loved this recipe. The chocolate pistachio filling was to die for, the shells rose and had beautiful feet and they tasted delicious. I highly recommend!
