matcha & dark chocolate macarons

I’m not obsessed I’m not obsessed I’m not obsessed I’m not obsessed.

Ok, I’m obsessed.

Well, maybe that’s only a half truth.

I mentioned yesterday that macarons are on the menu for Hotel Ploes. It’s because of that reason that I created these ones. The hotel is trying to design packaging for the Italian cookies since we’re going to be selling them in boxes. Due to that, I have an extremely good excuse for posting up another macaron recipe.

There will be lots of recipes going up for these as it so happens since I’ll constantly be changing them up to keep things interesting & “fresh”.

Today’s recipe was inspired by the contents in my fridge. The last of my matcha green tea powder was hiding in the back & it was about time it was put to some good use.

I changed it up a bit though. To date, I’ve been flavoring the filling of the macarons. Today, I decided to flavor the macaron shell instead.

See, I can keep things interesting.

I’ll whip up another batch for the hotel in a week once the new packaging is in & show off what these little beauties look like when they’re ready to go.

Tools/Equipment/Ingredients:

Electric Scale - Etekcity - http://amzn.to/2xkKpQk

Stand Mixer - Kenwood - http://amzn.to/2yqXPiH

Silicone Spatula - Zyliss - http://amzn.to/2y3Srkw

Non-Slip Pipping Bags - Pastry Gear - http://amzn.to/2fLxAZ0

Pipping Tips - Wilton - http://amzn.to/2yJVPy1

Food Gels - Wilton - http://amzn.to/2kpOCky

Organic GF Vanilla - Simply Organic - http://amzn.to/2xXdt2e

Almond Flour - Bob's Red Mill - http://amzn.to/2xkP3xI

Ingredients, macaron: – 100g egg whites, room temp – 40g sugar – 40ml water -175g icing sugar – 50g matcha green tea powder – 120g raw almonds (or almond flour) – colouring of your choice

Directions, macarons: 1. place your egg whites in a bowl, cover with cling film, & leave them out for 24 hours. This is called “aging” your egg whites. 2. once your egg whites have been aged, transfer them into a clean bowl. 3. place the sugar & water in a very small pot & bring to a boil. Do not stir the mixture at any point. Boil the sugar until it reaches soft-ball stage (115C), use a candy thermometer. Whilst your sugar is boiling, whip your egg whites to soft peak consistency. Once the sugar has reached the correct temperature, slowly pour it into your egg whites in a continuous, thin stream. Continue to beat the egg whites the entire time you are pouring in the sugar. Once they reach a glossy, creamy texture you can add in your food colouring & stop beating. 4. place your almonds in a blender & grind them until they are as fine as you can get them. Add in the icing sugar & matcha green tea, continue to blend them until it has all become a powder. Pass the mix through a sieve to remove any large chunks of almond. If there is more than two teaspoons of bits remaining, re blend the remainders & sift again before adding to your egg whites. 5. sift in your almond mixture to the egg mix. You want to gently fold the almonds into the egg whites making sure to scrape from the bottom of the bowl as you do. Once it has all been evenly distributed, pour the mix into a pipping back fitted with a 5mm nozzle. 6. pipe your macarons onto a parchment lined baking tray about 1.5cm in diameter, and 2cm apart from each other. Allow them to rest for 30 minutes to an hour. 7. bake them in a preheated oven for 18-20 minutes @ 150C. Rotate them half way through the time to ensure even baking. Remove them from the oven & allow them to cool prior to filling.

Ingredients, ganache: – 125ml heavy cream – 125g dark chocolate

Directions, ganache: 1. place your chocolate & heavy cream together in a bowl & either melt in a double boiler, or the microwave. Once it has all melted, remove from the heat & allow to cool. Stir the mixture every quarter of an hour until it reaches a thick enough consistency to be pipped. 2. fill your macarons & enjoy!

#matcha #almondflour #vanilla #darkchocolate #cream