in my previous entry of the sicile, the very fantastic pistachio biscuit sponge uses both almond & pistachio paste in it and some of my readers hv been asking me where they can purchase or make their own so i'm gonna post the recipe here. obviously nothing compares to the commercial ones in terms of texture coz even with my decent 600W blender i couldn't really get a really smooth paste but this is a good alternative to buying. unless you frequently use the pastes, i would recommend making your own if you just require a small quantity as the pistachio paste especially is not cheap.



using the same recipe, i also made the pistachio version and it came out great. here are the two for comparison on the left pic - the left one is homemade and the right one is storebought. i'm currently using sevarome's pistachio paste and it cost me $60/kg tub. its definitely cheaper to make your own though with the blanching and removing of skin, its a painstaking process so i might still continue using sevarome's as i really like the texture and aroma. removing the skins of the pistachios is entirely optional but if you don't, you'll end up with results similar to this, which is a pierre herme's recipe no-less but i prefer mine to look greener and finer.