CHOCOLATE MACARONS with PISTACHIO BUTTERCREAM … ‘FEETS, FEETS,’ I GOT ‘FEETS’
“@vindee yes! Deeba those are definitely feet. Twittdome so hear that?
It’s the patter of Deeba’s Mac Feet!”
Meeta @ WFLH via twitter
I’d written this virtual post in my mind over and over again. The search for elusive ‘FEET’ is where I almost met my Waterloo in baking. These elegant French cookies, the ultimate beauties, have eluded me too long. I have gazed endlessly at the most gorgeous macarons at Helen and Aran’s blogs. Seven attempts down & yet here I was, back again. Each time a mixed bag of emotions. Will there be ‘feet’ this time? 
Once I begin piping out the little circles, I am at a 100% level of confidence. Oooh they look so good; these are gonna be leggy for sure. All I’ve always ended up with was cracked tops, utterly disappointed. All I wanted was macarons that could stand sideways like Helen’s did! It was certainly becoming an obsession! 
Dating back to the 18th century, the macaron is a traditional French pastry, made of egg whites, almond powder, icing sugar and sugar. This sweet pastry came out of the French courts’ baker’s oven as round meringue-like domes with a flat base.
At the Versailles Court in Paris, members of the Dalloyau family, whose descendants later founded the gastronomy house of the same name, served macarons to royalty in the then ruling House of Bourbon. Marie Antoinette loved macaron from young age, she even named her cat Macaron when she was 5 years old. In the 1830s macarons were served two-by-two with the addition of jams, liqueurs, and spices. The double-decker macaron filled with cream that is popular today was invented by the French pâtisserie Ladurée.
Once I begin piping out the little circles, I am at a 100% level of confidence. Oooh they look so good; these are gonna be leggy for sure. All I’ve always ended up with was cracked tops, utterly disappointed. All I wanted was macarons that could stand sideways like Helen’s did! It was certainly becoming an obsession! Dating back to the 18th century, the macaron is a traditional French pastry, made of egg whites, almond powder, icing sugar and sugar. This sweet pastry came out of the French courts’ baker’s oven as round meringue-like domes with a flat base. At the Versailles Court in Paris, members of the Dalloyau family, whose descendants later founded the gastronomy house of the same name, served macarons to royalty in the then ruling House of Bourbon. Marie Antoinette loved macaron from young age, she even named her cat Macaron when she was 5 years old. In the 1830s macarons were served two-by-two with the addition of jams, liqueurs, and spices. The double-decker macaron filled with cream that is popular today was invented by the French pâtisserie Ladurée.We got together a challenge for ourselves on twitter, the group of wannabe mac bakers, yet a terrified bunch. Began with Aparna calling out to me, and me in turn daring my lovely friend, and over the top, talented Jamie. By the end of the first 2 days, we set twitter on fire. Our days were gone tweeting hysterically about macs, doing the headless chicken dance. Jamie, took the dare head-on, and produced macs upon macs with great aplomb, and was declared our gangs’ own Mac Queen. With her firmly in the drivers seat, there was no looking back. She’s still driving the express & there’s no way of getting off!! I went through dizzy spells, with the rest of the gang getting ‘feet’ one by one. (Just in case you are still wondering, FEET are the little ruffles the macaron develops at the base when it rises.)
Woe begone me… desperate times call for desperate measures & after lengthy consultations with Aparna, I found myself shivering at the back of the class with Monsieur Lebovitz! One look and you’re dead! He’s the no nonsense sort, calls a spade a spade, & is downright scary! I mean, did I ever want to go back to school? …Nah! But well, had a rep to protect, & it had a passion behind it. 
4th time with my failed macs in tow, I now proceeded very clinically. Trying to find logic in my feet. Was been helped beyond belief by the mac attack gang! Aparna offering me Indian baking advice from Goa…we share similar humid weather these days. Jamie, now royally pronounced the New Queen of Macs, royally discharged her duties, & cross questioned me from step 1! Helen, the original & revered Mac Queen, who patiently answered my dumb questions one after the other, & I had zillions. Hilda, who wasn’t a newbie mac baker, gave me endless advice, trying to get to the bottom of my debacle. Meeta, my partner in crime, the only other mac retard as she called herself, got feet on her first go. Even went on to suggest I shove the BOXES of failed macs under mattresses & behind sofas, & begin again.
The hub was now uber suspicious. What are these boxes of strange airy things lying all over the house? We’ve been eating faux tiramisu, ice creams with crushed failed macs, macs on their own … they are darned delicious though! Back to the role call, Hilda, sweet Hilda, who gave me many options – try Italian if French doesn’t work, and sent me links to another mac supremo, Mercotte. Deb called me to Umbria to relax – who cares if u didn’t make them, just get over here. Purple Foodie who said, I know you’ll be back again, I know you. She does…Scorpions of the world reunite!…And of course the Cooking Ninja, adding spirited words to my ordeal. She did a research for me on every tweet & updated me bit by bit on twitter. Thank you gang, you got me on my FEET!
So many people behind my mac endeavours, so I had to deliver. They’d all got ‘feet’ and were ready to dance, but the lovely tweeple waited with baited breath for me, wide eyed. “We’ll strut our stuff together”, they said.!! Sometimes I was scared of going onto twitter because they’d ask, hesitatingly, ” Any luck – got feet yet!”. 
Woe begone me… desperate times call for desperate measures & after lengthy consultations with Aparna, I found myself shivering at the back of the class with Monsieur Lebovitz! One look and you’re dead! He’s the no nonsense sort, calls a spade a spade, & is downright scary! I mean, did I ever want to go back to school? …Nah! But well, had a rep to protect, & it had a passion behind it. 4th time with my failed macs in tow, I now proceeded very clinically. Trying to find logic in my feet. Was been helped beyond belief by the mac attack gang! Aparna offering me Indian baking advice from Goa…we share similar humid weather these days. Jamie, now royally pronounced the New Queen of Macs, royally discharged her duties, & cross questioned me from step 1! Helen, the original & revered Mac Queen, who patiently answered my dumb questions one after the other, & I had zillions. Hilda, who wasn’t a newbie mac baker, gave me endless advice, trying to get to the bottom of my debacle. Meeta, my partner in crime, the only other mac retard as she called herself, got feet on her first go. Even went on to suggest I shove the BOXES of failed macs under mattresses & behind sofas, & begin again.The hub was now uber suspicious. What are these boxes of strange airy things lying all over the house? We’ve been eating faux tiramisu, ice creams with crushed failed macs, macs on their own … they are darned delicious though! Back to the role call, Hilda, sweet Hilda, who gave me many options – try Italian if French doesn’t work, and sent me links to another mac supremo, Mercotte. Deb called me to Umbria to relax – who cares if u didn’t make them, just get over here. Purple Foodie who said, I know you’ll be back again, I know you. She does…Scorpions of the world reunite!…And of course the Cooking Ninja, adding spirited words to my ordeal. She did a research for me on every tweet & updated me bit by bit on twitter. Thank you gang, you got me on my FEET!So many people behind my mac endeavours, so I had to deliver. They’d all got ‘feet’ and were ready to dance, but the lovely tweeple waited with baited breath for me, wide eyed. “We’ll strut our stuff together”, they said.!! Sometimes I was scared of going onto twitter because they’d ask, hesitatingly, ” Any luck – got feet yet!”. One more imaginary scowl from Monsieur Lebovitz later, quick discussions with Hilda, Aparna, & Meeta, I experimented for the 6th time that particular day. Two trays, 140C, a bowl at the bottom to absorb extra heat, resting time of an hour... and the Mr Lebovitz’s Chocolate Macaron recipe finally found me my ‘feet’!
.
Pamela @ Cooking Ninja gave me my victory call in her tweets, constantly making me feel like I would get there, …
vindee U’ll get your feets dearie. Can see you jumping up & down in yr kitchen shouting ‘I got feets! I got feets!’ like u won lotto.
Pamela @ Cooking Ninja gave me my victory call in her tweets, constantly making me feel like I would get there, …
vindee U’ll get your feets dearie. Can see you jumping up & down in yr kitchen shouting ‘I got feets! I got feets!’ like u won lotto.
Chocolate Macarons with Pistachio Buttercream
as adapted from David Lebovitz’s recipe
( I made half this recipe )
Macaron Batter
1 cup (100 gr) powdered sugar
½ cup powdered almonds
Macaron Batter
1 cup (100 gr) powdered sugar
½ cup powdered almonds
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
Method:
Preheat oven to 140 degrees C.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2-inch, 2 cm) ready.
Grind together the powdered sugar with the almond powder and cocoa so there are no lumps; use a blender or food processor since almond meal that you buy isn’t quite fine enough.
In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.
Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).
Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch (3 cm) circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.
Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then bake them for 15-18 minutes. ( I rested them for over an hour because it was humid).
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
Method:
Preheat oven to 140 degrees C.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2-inch, 2 cm) ready.
Grind together the powdered sugar with the almond powder and cocoa so there are no lumps; use a blender or food processor since almond meal that you buy isn’t quite fine enough.
In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.
Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).
Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch (3 cm) circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.
Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then bake them for 15-18 minutes. ( I rested them for over an hour because it was humid).
Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.
Pistachio Buttercream
Double the ingrdients if you are making the whole recipe above.
Ingredients:
3 tbsps butter, soft
1/4 cup pistachio nuts
1/8 cup granulated sugar
Few drops green food colour
Method:
Run the pistachio, sugar and colour in a nut/coffee grinder till well ground.
Whisk the butter till smooth for a minute, add the nut mix & blend.
Pipe onto cookies & sandwich. Store in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Could write a thesis. Read up Helen’s Macaron 101 and her online tutorial at Desserts Magazine, David Lebovitzs macaron instructions, Lemonpi’s macaron posts, Mercotte’s beautiful pages of Desperately Seeking Macarons, Veronica of Kitchen Musings Macaron Chronicles from back to front & all around … unbelievable!
The original Mac Queen, Helen of Tartlette still rules our twitterverse, supremely, & we could never had gotten anywhere without her! Thank you!! 
As time is going by, we’ve had more & more folk join our twitter gang. Rachel, Shelley, Deb, Pamela, Erin, Ilva, Ria, Barbara, Megan, Paula, Reene, Finla … and a few more as we get closer to the 15th of September, ’09. That’s the date for the round-up at Jamie’s blog @ Lifes A Feast …
So if you still want to join, do drop us a tweet (or comment/mail). We’ll be happy to have you on board!
Deeba @ PAB
About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.
47 Comments
IMCurtain
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The Cooking Ninja
Dearie, u got the most gorgeous FEETS on earth.
Those macs are smacking good. I could literally lick them off my screen.
Deborah
Gorgeous Deeba! I knew you could do it and your photos look wonderful! Bet they taste great too!
Hilda
Yeay for feet! So glad to be able to help. And now you know it was your oven you can make some more and eventually supplant the Mac Queen herself! our adorable Jamie. xo.
lisaiscooking
Congratulations! They're beauties! I hope to find some feet of my own some one of these days.
Happy cook
I love the way you described the lessons in Lebovit's class that really made my imagination in a classroom.
I can understand the disapointment when it fails, i went with them myself.
Still we had lots of fun didn't we.
Love that there is only 3 tbsp of butter in your filling.
Looks beautiful and yumm.
And you indeed have FEET…..
Now tonight you can sleep without dreaming aobut Mac.
Dawn
pistachio buttercream? can I lick that bowl?
Barbara Bakes
I've had so much fun with this mac adventure! Thanks for including me! Once again your post is spectacular!
Bellini Valli
…and you have gorgeous feet too Deeba:D
Snooky doodle
wow really nice macarons. I ve tried making these 2 times and failed miserably. I ll try again though. you gave me courage
anna
Yaayyy for Deeba's macarons with FEETS! They're so cute. Nice and shiny and frilly and I bet they taste exquisite too!
Fuji Mama
I LOVE THIS POST! You are an inspiration! I'm so glad that I joined the mac train! Now if I can actually reach my "destination" I'll be even happier! I wouldn't want to shame The Mac Sisterhood with no feet Chez Fuji!
thecookieshopinenglish
They are beautiful, those little feeted bastards! I'm LOL with your post – after following all your mac quest, it's good to know it had a happy ending! Almost a soap opera. Better: a MAC-OPERA!
Gloria
These look fantastic Deeba, absolutely fantastic and the pictures awesome!! xoxoxo gloria
Rosa's Yummy Yums
Wow, they are so pretty! I love the flavors you chose and that beautiful color contrast!
Cheers,
Rosa
Elenka
What an unusual color for the filling. Very enticing.
Donna-FFW
They look so lovely and pistachio buttercream.. oh my.
Gera @ SweetsFoods
Stunning Deeba! A pure twitter sweetness
with wonderful contrast of colors!!
Cheers!
Gera
Aparna
See, like we all predicted you got those darned "feets"! Of course, hats off to your persistence. It's fun re-living the challenge through your post!
They look beautiful, Deeba. Unusual colour combo of chocolate and green.
Game for the next one?
Julie @ Willow Bird Baking
Congrats, Deeba! They're just lovely! I'm SO a wannabe mac baker — been reading about them for months but haven't gotten up the nerve to try yet!!
nag
Ur pics r wonderful.I like it.
Work From Home
Rachel
That is some guts to try after the many failed attempts..Good job Deeba!
Divya Kudua
"You got feet"..YAY..I am so happy for you Deeba.I was surprised that master bakers like you,Aparna and Meeta were so getting tensed about making Macs:).Even if it was the easiest recipe on earth,if that made you tensed,I wouldn't attempt that..EVER.No way we lesser mortals could get it right;).
Love love your feet:)
Peabody
Mmm, pistachio buttercream.
Esi
I know you had a rough time with these, but oh my GAH! They look incredible. Chocolate and pistachio buttercream…I love them!!
Jamie
I'm doing the Happy Mac Feet Dance for you, my love. Just a little patience is all it took (okay, so you lost your patience at about the fifth round, but who's looking?) and a lot of perseverance and you finally did it! This Mac Queen happily and proudly taps you on the shoulder once, twice, three times with her cooking whisk and dubs you Deeba, Knight of the Round and Ruffled Mac Table. And I couldn't have – or wouldn't have – done this without you. Next on my list? Chocolate Macs and Pistachio Buttercream. Dear Deeba, you have Twitter all-atwitter: your macs are beautiful!
sillie
oh wauw and what a loverly looking things you have made this time, dont know if i can get al the ingredients down here, but i will try to make them as well!!
My compliments for your beatifull creations!!!
greetings syllie
The Purple Foodie
YAY YAY you finally have feet!
I'm so happy you were so persistent! The macs look so good!
Lolah
Your macaroons and your pictures are wanderful. You're a great baker!
A kiss from Spain.
shaz
"Hooray, let's hear it for feet!" – I'm sure that's a song from somewhere, and if I ever meet you face to face Deeba, I'll sing it to you :). Well done and I'm impressed by your tenacity.
pigpigscorner
oh yay you made it! Nice colour too! I should really try to make macarons again.
Julia @ Mélanger
CONTRATULATIONS!!! Deeba, what perfect little macarons you have. Well done!! I have seen a few posts now from your Twitter chats and adventures. I would have loved to see all the back and forth – and participate myself. Fun! I am so obsessed with the macaron, too. That first successful batch is one of the best feelings in the world, isn't it?
Maria
Glad you found the feet! They are perfect!
Helene
I was always jealous of Helen's macarons but now I'm jealous at yours also. They are BEAUTIFUL. I'm doing the happy dance for you. I've never attempted to make them. Never crossed my mind. Congratulations I'm so happy for you
Parita
Congratulations Deeba! Love the way you have written this post..so inspirational! Macarons have come out beautiful, lovely combination of colors and flavors there..love them!!
I so would love to join your group..may i?
Kamran Siddiqi
Oh, Macarons how much I love you dear Macarons! I love making Macarons. Maybe I should bake some and put a post up on my blog….
Chocolate and Pistachio are my fav. combos. So I will have to try this recipe out.
Megan Gordon
Beautiful photos, Deeba! This one was a challenge, eh? They turned out beautifully though–thanks for including me (I'm writing up my post now).
Soma
I am loving this fantastic pittar patter of the Macarons around the blog!! Thanks for bringing this over, for us to feast our eyes.
your look so cute, love the pistachios..Deeba even your failed ones could have been my success.. but i am not even there yet:-).. only if i got a bite of one of these wonders.
MeetaK
can't believe i am late here! sorry! but yahhh! this post is going down in our mac history for sure. glad we all were able to help you on this. they look amazing!
Jarmaine | Brochure Printing
Congratulations!!! It's the sweet smell of macaron success! What an accomplishment, I'm sure it's made even better since you've failed beforehand. And how! Those macarons look absolutely scrumptious! Looks like you've been making them for years
Nicisme
Yay for tootsies, especially chocolate ones!
lauresophie
Gorgeous feet! I went exactly through the same problems….:where the feet is?!! Now I am just addicted to this elegant biscuit! Nice work
morgana
Perfect feet!!! congratulations, macarons are so… Difficult is not enough. Magic? Well, I don't know, but they are not easy, that's true.
Cheers from Spain.
s
tried to make these yday ..failed miserably…how did u make the almond meal..we dont get any here…should i blanch the almonds first before i powder them?PLEASE HELP!!
internet service provider
Currently it looks like WordPress is the preferred blogging platform out there right now.
(from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
topijerami
it looks like very delicious
i will tried this,
i will comment your blog letter to tell u the result