Hello everyone,

First of all, Happy Wesak Day and Happy Mothers Day in advance.

I was so into making something new and 'adventurous' today, so while flipping through Nigella's How To Be a Domestic Goddess, I saw this Pistachio Macaroons. It looks very nice and delicious. From what I read in other food-bloggers site, macaroons are quite a kick in the a**. It's not so easy to handle.

So, being an amateur, I failed on my first attempt on making what might be the best-looking elegant macaroon. *sigh* Let's analyse and see what went wrong..

Nigella said "Grind the pistachios in a food processor along with icing sugar, until as fine as dust. Whisk the egg whites until fairly stiff, but not dry, sprinkle the caster sugar over and whisk until very stiff. Fold the whites into the pistashio-sugar dust, and combine gently. Pipe small rounds onto your lined baking sheet, using a plain 1cm nozzle. Let them sit for about 10 minutes to form a skin. Then put in the oven and cook for 10-12 mins at 180 C"

right, so basically it's only pistachio, sugar and egg whites. sounds easy huh ?

I guess that the egg whites weren't THAT VERY stiff, cause when I folded the pistachio-sugar dust in, it became abit watery and wasn't that stiff.

*ching!!!!* Now that I'm typing it out, it said "fold the whites into the pistachio-sugar dust" .. i kinda did it the other way round. Does that affect the stiffness of the egg whites ? What do you think ?

I knew this wasn't going to be right.. -.-"

It became.. gooey melted pistachio flavoured sugar

yes, that's right.

But, I already made the pistachio buttercream. HOW ? HOW ?

So, made a Victorian Sponge Cake from HTBADG (was suppose to make the Boston Cream Pie tho, but since I have so much of buttercream, just settle for a Victorian Sponge Cake with Pistachio Buttercream and strawberries (what a combi.)

So, for Victorian Sponge,

! food-processor-fool-proof-recipe-and-method !

225g unsalted butter, very soft
225g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
200g self-raising flour
25g cornflour *makes your cake texture fluffier and lighter*
1 tsp baking powder
3-4 tbsp milk

Put in all ingredients in the food processor except for milk. Pulse it till u've got a smooth batter. Then add in milk gradually through the funnel till your cake mixture's soft.

Pour and scrape the batter into 2 x 21cm tins and bake for about 25 minutes at 180 C. When done, leave them on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out and cool completely.

So, this is a multi-purpose sponge cake. use it anyhow u like. eat it plain, eat it with cream, or spread some jam in the middle and add some raspberries, or do cream cheese icing, perhaps chocolate ganache. or, I don't know, It's totally up to u.

so my variation is with pistachio buttercream!

Quite messly done. was on the way out! hehe

 -- edited--- 13th may

made from left over chocolate ganache and beryls nuts. Little brother complained that I left a nicer looking cake at my uncle's place. He wanted a nice one at home too. (that's the existing pistachio buttercream victorian sponge)

	Poeh June 22, 2006   04:31 AM PDT   Hello, I stumbled upon your site, when i was looking for some macaroon recipes. I also tried nigella lawson's pistachio macaroons and they've turned quite nice. (i was actually quite surprise myself, because my cookies are famous for the "stone texture":D. Make sure that the bowl you used is dry. not even a little drop of water, otherwise you can't beat the eggwhite stiff. The eggwhites have to be very stiff. I'd also folded the pistachio and icing sugar dust in the eggwhites. it doesn't matter which way you fold it in. the texture reminded me a little bit of making mousse or merengue. just make sure that everything is dry and it will be okay. I found the 125 gram confectioner's sugar a little bit too sweet. (even though it was so good, i think if it was less sweet, it would have been even better). About her yummy buttercream filling. you could easily cut every amount in half and you'll still have plenty left. i remember i had tons of leftover. My first attempts of making macaroons were a disaster. Just don't give up, practise makes perfect. I noticed the links on the left side, are you guys from Malaysia? My parents are from Malaysia and my entire family lives there (but we all speak cantonese). I love it there, the culture, the shopping and the food, oy the food :) Love the site, full of yummy recipes, i'll some out, some time:)

	swee May 14, 2006   01:08 PM PDT   hrm.. ok, will try in forums, i'd probably make choc mac instead of pistachios.. quite costly

	boo_licious May 14, 2006   04:44 AM PDT   Maybe u folded it too much hence it went flat? Try the forum as they have lots of people who have tried this recipe.