Orly's Gluten Free Passover Pistachio French Macarons

Amidst France's amazing pastries and breads, French macarons are among its top patisserie masterpieces.  Lucky for us, they are also gluten free and passover friendly.  The French love pistachio flavor in their sweet treats- even McDonalds has pistachio flavored McFlurries!   Although you can make many flavors of French macarons on Passover, pistachio macarons are my favorite.  You don't have to add any artificial food coloring because they gets a natural green hue from the pistachio meal.  You'll have to use a baking scale for this one- precise measurements are key to yielding the right consistency and shape.

Macaron Shell:
90 grams powdered sugar
60 grams almond flour
30 grams pistachio meal
90 grams granualted sugar
75 grams egg whites 
a drop of lemon juice

Filling:
90 grams butter
30 grams powdered sugar
60 grams pistachio meal

Sift powdered sugar, almond flour and pistachio meal together into a bowl and combine. Using an electric mixer, whisk eggwhites until foamy. Add a drop of lemon juice and whisk until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 3 tablespoons at a time, and whisk until dissolved. Gently fold meringue into almond mixture until it becomes thick and stiff. Spoon part of the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 5mm piping nozzle. Pipe 1.5cm rounds on to baking paper-lined oven trays. Set meringues aside in a dry area, uncovered, on trays for 1 hour before baking.  Preheat oven to 150°C and bake macaroons for 15-20 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and cool on trays. After the meringues cool, flip them over and they are ready to fill.  

For filling, using an electric mixer, beat butter until pale and fluffy, then gradually beat in powdered sugar until combined. Add pistachio meal to the mixture and beat until well combined. Pipe a dollop of pistachio filling on to one open side of the macaroon and sandwich the macaroons.