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Macaroons Aux Pistache
Plunge three ounces sweet almonds into half a pint boiling water for three minutes. Drain, peel and place in a mortar with an egg white, and pound to a paste. Transfer into a bowl, add another egg white, three ounces sugar, one teaspoon orange-flower water and three ounces finely chopped, peeled pistachios; then briskly stir with a wooden spoon for five minutes. Slide a quarter-inch tube into a pastry bag, drop the preparation into the bag and press down the paste on a sheet of white paper placed over a pastry pan to the size and form of walnuts. Lightly dampen the surface of the cakes by means of a well wetted towel. Place in the oven for twenty-five minutes. Remove, let cool off. Lift up the paper from the pan, lightly wet the pan, replace the paper in its former position, let stand for five minutes. Pick up the macaroons, arrange them on a compotier and serve.
A French-style almond macaroon, piped rather than dropped, with pistachios worked into the paste. Two things carry it: the paste must be pounded until it is genuinely smooth, and the trick with the wet pan at the end is how the cookies come off the paper.
- The wet-pan releaseThe original gives no explanation for lifting the paper, wetting the pan and replacing the paper. The water soaks up through the paper and softens the sugary undersides so the macaroons peel away whole; note that the pan has been allowed to cool first, so this is dampening rather than steaming. Parchment makes the step unnecessary, but with plain white paper it is worth doing.
- Oven temperatureNo heat is specified. Almond macaroons of this type are baked slow to moderate, roughly 300-325F, for the stated 25 minutes; they should be set and pale gold, not browned. A hotter oven cracks and colors them before the interior dries.
- Blanching the almondsThree minutes in boiling water loosens the skins; pinch them off while still warm or they grip. Buy whole raw almonds rather than pre-blanched, which are often dried out, and do not substitute almond flour here since the pounding with egg white is what makes the paste.
- Mortar versus processorA food processor does the pounding in under a minute. Add the first egg white with the almonds as directed, since the liquid stops the nuts turning to oily butter, and scrape down often until no grit remains.
- Orange-flower waterStill sold, usually as orange blossom water, in Middle Eastern groceries. One teaspoon is assertive; modern brands vary considerably in strength, so taste the paste before piping.
- PistachiosPeeling pistachios means slipping off the papery skin after a brief soak in hot water, which keeps the green bright. Chop by hand, since a machine reduces them to paste and you want visible flecks.
- PipingA quarter-inch plain tube and walnut-sized mounds, spaced about an inch and a half apart. Damping the tops with a wet towel, as instructed, smooths the piping ridges and helps the shells form.
- YieldThree ounces of almonds and two egg whites give roughly 20 to 24 small macaroons. They keep several days in a tin and are better on the second day, once the interior has softened.
Macaroons in this line are generally traced to the almond-and-sugar confections of Italian and French convent kitchens, made from nothing but ground nuts, sugar and egg white, and they long predate the sandwiched, filled macaron of modern Paris patisserie. The pistachio version was a favorite of nineteenth-century French professional pastry work. Orange-flower water was a common perfume for almond pastry in that tradition, used where a later cook would reach for vanilla or almond extract. The compotier called for in the last line is a footed glass or porcelain dish for fruit and sweets.