GREEN TEA WHITE CHOCOLATE MACARONS

I recently met my brother’s friends, Annie and Connie of Artful Food, and they’re probably two of the most talented and inspirational bakers I’ve ever met. They manage to whip out perfect batches of macarons in large numbers for school organization bake sales, and all of their desserts have a professional look to them despite being baked up in a small kitchen in a house with ten other people. So of course when they shared their macaron recipe with me, I was eager to try it right away. While I still can’t manage to perfect the crack of crust that dissolves into the soft cushion and ganache within the shell like they can, my attempts have been getting better with time. It’s good to know that macarons are possible!

I followed their recipe to the best of my abilities with the tools I had, subbing creme fraiche for heavy cream in the ganache. Just a note that macarons are SUPER temperamental. You need to follow all steps precisely to be successful, and adjust to your settings. For example, living in Florida means heavy humidity when it’s rainy, so I always have to wait for dry days to make these. Having a scale is the best for weighing out ingredients.

Green Tea White Chocolate Macarons

From Artful Food

Makes 10-15 macarons

Macaron Shell

100g whites (3 large eggs; aged 12-24 hours at cool room temp, covered with plastic wrap poked with holes)

40g granulated white sugar

190g powdered sugar

120g almond flour

Up to 5g powdered flavoring matcha powder

Green Tea White Chocolate Ganache

118 grams white chocolate

1.5 teaspoons quality green tea powder

80 grams heavy cream

45 grams organic unsalted butter

To make the shells: Grind almonds and powdered sugar in food processor until very fine. Whisk egg whites and granulated sugar to make a stiff meringue. Fold together powdered mix and meringue until mixture resembles slowly flowing lava. Fill a piping bag and pipe 1.5 diameter evenly spaced blobs onto lined baking sheets. Decorate the shells when still moist. Let shells sit out for 30-60 min in a cool dry place until they don’t stick when lightly poked. Bake one sheet at a time in the center of a convection oven for 15 min at 280 F till just set (doesn’t wobble when nudged) and not brown (turn down heat if browning before set). Let cool completely, remove shells from sheet, match up the shells according to size and fill them. Store in the fridge overnight to allow macarons to mature in texture and flavor. Serve at room temperature for most intense flavor and creamiest texture.

To make the ganache: Place the white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Remove the bowl and stir chocolate with a spoon to distribute the heat. Microwave on high for 20 seconds. Remove and stir. Microwave on high for 15 seconds. The chocolate should be about half melted by now. Continue to microwave on high for 10 second bursts and stir in between until the chocolate is just melted. Be careful not to microwave too long or the chocolate will burn or dry out. Sift the green tea powder over the melted white chocolate and whisk slowly until smooth. Spoon the heavy cream into a microwave safe bowl and heat until just boiling. Pour it into the white chocolate green tea mixture and whisk carefully to combine; it will look like it won’t want to combine, but don’t worry. Add butter and whisk until smooth. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly over the surface of the ganache to prevent a skin from forming, and store on the counter for 2-3 hours until firm and mashed potato consistency (good for piping). If you’re rushed, you can stash it in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour but remove the ganache before it sets up too firmly and becomes difficult to pipe.

To assemble: Stack the macaron shells together based on size and line them up in two rows on two clean baking sheets. Remove the top shells to reveal the overturned bottom shell. Using a rubber spatula, fill a round-tip fitted piping bag with the ganache. Pipe a dollop of ganache in the center of each overturned bottom shell. Test the amount of filling by sandwiching the two shells together. Adjust the dollop size as needed to achieve a shell:filling ratio of 2:1 or 3:1.

Store filled macarons in an airtight container in the fridge over night and enjoy the next day. For longer storage, transfer to the freezer and store for up to 2 months. Be sure to defrost at room temperature before savoring.