At Long Last... Macaroons (part 2)

Sorry for the disappearing act. Unfortunately I have been under the weather for about a week. Jerusalem saw its second bout of snow last week and I, being the idiot that I am, played in the snow, swam in an indoor pool and went outside in the freezing cold with wet hair all on the same day, thus allowing little creatures to attack my immune system. So much to catch up on-a few recipes, a baking night, a hike and future plans... but let us first tend to the lovely macaron sitting up there all on its own, shall we?

Once you have made the green batter, it is time to pipe the cookies on to the cookie sheets. If you are as aesthetically challenged as me, they will come out looking something like this,

but with any luck, you'll manage to pipe circles of identical size with no apparent peaks. Once you're done piping, hold the baking tray/cookie sheet thing and bang it on the counter strongly a few times. Bet you didn't see that one coming! Apparently it helps get rid of any air bubbles that might have formed during the mixing. Now it's time for the macarons to sit for an hour and form crusts. Only then can you pop them in the oven (previously heated at 175 C) for 10-12 minutes (watch them closely, they burn very easily). In the meantime prepare the filling:

Ingredients:

50 gr. ground pistachios

1 cup confectionary sugar

3 tablespoons Tofutti cheese (or regular cream cheese)

1 packet of vanilla sugar

Combine the ingredients and form a paste.

After the macaroons are out of the oven, wait until completely cooled and spread the filling between macarons of similar shape.

Now that I've finished writing this recipe, I cannot believe I actually spent so much time making them. They were really really really yummy, but I'm not sure I will be making them very often. I've actually made ridiculously simple "macaroon"s before-no whipping egg whites, no banging on tables-which tasted pretty good although the texture was nowhere near as delicate as these. I wonder how they would hold up with the filling. I'll be sure to let you know when I try.

In the meantime, can you guess what this is?