Put your leftover cranberry sauce to good use in these macarons.  Pistachio Cranberry Macaron have all the flavors of the holidays in a delicately delicious cookie. This post contains affiliate links.

 

Who is excited about the start of #ChristmasCookie week?  Show of hands?  Yumgoggle is excited to be a sponsor for the week.  We can’t wait to see the wonderful creations and to bake some up for our cookie swaps this holiday season, too.

 

Yes, we know that a pistachio cranberry macaron is not the most practical cookie to bake up for a cookie swap, but they’re not as difficult as you might think.  Trust us on this one.  They only SEEM daunting, but you can make them just as easily as we can.

 

 

We can hear you laughing.

 

So, we have just a few questions for you.  Can you whip egg whites to stiff peaks?  Can you process almond meal and powdered sugar together in a food processor?  Are you able to pipe circles on a baking sheet?  Finally, do you know how to bang baking sheets on a counter?  If you said yes to at least two of these, then you can make pistachio cranberry macaron.  It’s just that simple!

 

We know that there are a lot of steps to the instructions.  Don’t let those prevent you to trying these delicious cookies.  If you follow the steps, and some of them are more like guidance than actual instructions, then you’re sure to have delicious macaron your plate in no time.

 

 

See how festive these look?

 

That red and green color epitomizes the holiday spirit!  The colors of holly and berries or poinsettias.  Red and green is used to decorate homes for the holidays and has been for centuries.  There are a few theories as to why.  One of them dates back to the days of the Ancient Celtic peoples who revered holly with it’s green leaves and red berries.  It kept the earth alive during the coldest of winters.

 

Some stick to the religious theory that the green is the snake and the red is the apple in the Garden of Eden.  Others believe that it goes back to Roman times when they also decorated their homes with holly for Saturnalia which is the celebration of the god… Saturn.  You had to know that was coming.

 

 

However, it wasn’t quite solidified as the perfect holiday pairing until 1931 when Coca-Cola had an artist to create a Santa for their advertisements.  Yep!  You’re got that Santa in mind now, don’t you?  That holly, jolly, classic Coca-Cola Santa comes to mind almost every time we think of Christmas and Coca-Cola.

 

This image of Santa Claus is one that most identify with today.

 

He’s fat and jolly.  Most of the Santas before this one was sometimes thin and almost elf like in nature.  Can you imagine what that looks like?  We sure can’t.  He is dressed in red robes.  The red, conveniently enough, is the color of the Coca-Cola logo.  Not only did Coca-Cola have an epic marketing year, but they created a social icon.  We don’t think they could have imagined how popular their Santa would be.

 

 

We bet you didn’t think you were going to get a bit of history with this pistachio cranberry macaron recipe, did you?

 

This pistachio cranberry macaron has a definite shine to it. We used a food grade luster dust to make them shine. The shine was supposed to be more definite. Guess there’s a learning curve to using those powders. We have a few others to try to make our macaron shine…literally.

 

Not that this pistachio cranberry macaron don’t shine already. Just look at them! That green shell filled with pistachio flavor is the perfect vessel for the sweet tart cranberry buttercream filling. It’s also a good way to use up some of that leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving.

 

 

We hope you get into the kitchen this holiday season and bake up this pistachio cranberry macaron or another delicious cookie. Imagine the look on your family’s faces when you set these out to nibble on. Their flavors are perfect for the holidays, and so are their colors.

 

Make sure to see what the other #ChristmasCookie bloggers baked up today. Be sure to see all the other recipes shared this week. There are some absolutely delicious ones!

Pistachio Cranberry Macaron

Yield: 18 cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Drying time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Put your leftover cranberry sauce to good use in these macaron.  Pistachio Cranberry Macaron have all the flavors of the holidays in a delicately delicious cookie.

Print

Ingredients

• 2 ounces almond meal
• 2 ounces pistachio meal, or frozen pistachios
• 7 ounces powdered sugar
• 4 ounces egg whites
• 40 grams granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon green gel food coloring
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup cranberry sauce, or frozen cranberries thawed
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 - 5 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Place the almond meal, pistachio meal (or pistachios), and the powdered sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until the mixture is finely ground. Sift into a large bowl. Place the large pieces in the food processor and pulse until ground. Sift the mixture two more times and set aside.
2. Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle the cream of tartar over the eggs and hand mix the two together with the whisk attachment for the stand mixer. Fasten the whisk attachment and beat the mixture on medium speed until foamy. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Increase the speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form.
3. Add 1/3 of the almond mixture into the bowl with the meringue. Fold the ingredients together with a large spatula until incorporated. Add the food coloring and continue folding the almond meal until all the mixture is incorporated into the meringue and then drips slowly off the spatula; like lava flowing.
4. Transfer the batter to a large piping bag fitted with a 1A tip and pipe 1 1/3-inch rounds onto a Silpat covered baking sheet. There are several different templates out there. Two that I liked are here and here.
5. Preheat oven to 325.
6. You're going to LOVE this next part! Once all the batter has been piped or your sheets are full, grab the edges of the pan, secure the silpat with your thumbs (or any extra batter) and rap the pans on the counter. This releases any remaining air bubbles in the meringue. Continue rapping the sheets, turning occasionally, until no more air bubbles surface. Allow the macaron to rest on the counter at least 30 minutes.
7. Once they've rested and the tops are no longer sticky to the touch, bake at 325 for 9 minutes. Rotate the pans front to back and top to bottom and bake an additional 9 minutes. Do the wiggle test to see if the meringue is cooked. If the tops move easily from side to side when wiggled, indicating the meringue isn't completely cooked, then continue to cook in 4 to 5-minute intervals until they no longer wiggle.
8. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely before filling.
9. While the macarons cool, make the cream cheese buttercream. Place the cranberries in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add the cream cheese and process until smooth.
10. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer and add the butter. Beat until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.
11. Pipe a quarter sized dot of buttercream in the center of the shell. Top with a matching shell. Repeat with remaining shells and buttercream.

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#ChristmasCookiesWeek Monday Recipes

• Ach Tannebaum’ Iced Sugar Cookies by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Brown Sugar Ornament Cookies by Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Butter Pecan Nuggets by Grumpy’s Honeybunch
• Chocolate Candy Cane Kiss Cookies by Soulfully Made
• Chocolate Crinkle Cookies by Everyday Eileen
• Chocolate Dipped Peppermint Cookies by Tip Garden
• Chocolate Espresso Brown Sugar Cookies by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Chocolate Snowball Cookies by Hardly A Goddess
• Chocolate-Cherry Snowballs by Red Cottage Chronicles
• Christmas Macarons by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Christmas Rosette Sugar Cookies by Love and Confections
• Christmas Sprinkle Pudding Cookies by Jonesin’ For Taste
• Classic Spritz by Books n’ Cooks
• Dark Chocolate Coffee Crinkle Cookies by Daily Dish Recipes
• Frostbite Cookies by Cooking With Carlee
• Gingerbread Macaron by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Hot Chocolate Cookies by Family Around The Table
• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie by Caroline’s Cooking
• Oatmeal Rolled Sugar Cookies by House of Nash Eats
• Peanut Butter Cutout Cookies by Bear & Bug Eats
• Peppermint Cookie Dough Truffles by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Peppermint Meltaways by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Peppermint Pizzelles by Girl Abroad
• Peppermint Thins by Palatable Pastime
• Pistachio Cranberry Macaron by Yumgoggle
• Sour Cream Decorated Cookies by The Freshman Cook
• Spiced Chocolate Molasses Cookies by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Vegan Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars by The Baking Fairy
• Chocolate Dipped Gingerbread Shortbread by Kate’s Recipe Box
• White Chocolate Gingerbread Blondies by The Redhead Baker
• Whoville Cookies by Strawberry Blondie Kitchen

This post is sponsored on behalf of #ChristmasCookiesWeek. The generous sponsors, YumGoggle, Sprinkle Pop, Silpat and Adams Extracts have provided us with products for recipe creation and a giveaway for our readers. As always, all opinions are my own.

 

Thank you to Ellen at Family Around the Table and Christie at A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures for hosting #ChristmasCookiesWeek.