A few years ago, while in the throes of yet another health kick, I bought a new blender; one of those fancy ones that promises to provide you with an endless supply of delicious, healthy smoothies. Though I quickly grew bored with drinking dubiously coloured, pureed salads, I soon found new uses for the blender. In the summer it churns out the best iced coffees. But I also found it was perfect for grinding nuts into a fine powder to use in cakes, frangipane and making my own marzipan or, as I do here, to turn lurid-green pistachios into chewy, blissful macaroons.
Prep 15 min
Cook 10 min
Serves 12
Chocolate and pistachio macaroons (pictured above)
100g unsalted pistachios
100g ground almonds
1 medium egg
150g caster sugar
2 pinches table salt
6 squares dark chocolate, cut in half
100g icing sugar
If you’re using a regular food processor to grind up the pistachios, you might find you end up with nut butter rather a fine, dry powder. Instead, try adding in the caster sugar with the nuts. You should get a much more even powder, with none of the stickiness.
Pop the pistachios into a food processor or spice grinder, and blitz to a powder. Take care not to over mix them or you’ll end up with a paste rather than ground pistachios. Mix these with the almonds, egg, sugar and salt. Divide the dough mix into 12. Take one blob of dough, seal a piece of chocolate in the middle and form into a ball.
Roll the ball in icing sugar, then place on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. Flatten the ball down slightly and repeat with the remaining 11 macaroons.
Bake at 180C (160C fan) /350F/gas 4 for 10 minutes. Leave to cool a little and enjoy while still warm, or over a couple of days.
