I also wanted to make an earl grey macaron. That was partly successful. But flawed in the filling. I am going to go over troubleshooting macarons....What I learned from these failures.
First thing, it is important to have a scale of some sort to weigh out your ingredients. However, I do not own such a tool. Mistake #1. Secondly, do not overbeat the egg whites, you will get hollow shells. Mistake #2. Lastly, it is important to open the oven 2 minutes after you put them in to let the moisture out. This way you get the foots. Mistake #3.
After 2 batches, I was on the web searching what I had done incorrectly and the above said is what I have pinpointed it down to. Now it is really important to quickly open and close the oven to get the little foots. Don't over beat the egg whites. You can get away without a scale however. My third attempt, still no scale, but continued on, you just have to use the right recipe.
Now the color looks great here. A nice green hue for the Green Tea Macaron. I used a recipe from this blog: food je t'aime
They came out all pretty when I piped them. But they never dried. It is very important for them to dry. I waited more than an hour. I think I over beat the egg whites and over mixed it.
So they came out flat and didn't have that eggshell texture. It was more like a whoppie. Booo! FAIL!!!! ;<{
Disappointed, I continued on to make the Earl Grey Macaron. I really like this recipe. You don't need a scale for it. It is almost a tried and true recipe! I got it from Yoo Eatz.
This is how the Earl Grey turned out. You can see the foot/frille. But some of them were still hollow. But it definitely had that eggshell exterior.
I was also baking them with a baking sheet under. Ditch that 'ish. You will not get them to cook evenly. And it will take longer.
I was lazy and used a whipping cream/red bean paste mixture for the filling. BIG MISTAKE!!! It will make your macarons soggy and say bye bye to your eggshell exterior. It is best to use a buttercream filling. This is how the green tea with red bean turned out. Pretty pathetic, but still tasted good. See they do look like whoppies.
The Earl Grey Red Bean turned out better, but the whipping cream filling really bleed through. The flavor of the earl grey really came through.
Because I was so disappointed, I really had to whip up another batch to redeem these failure and figure out what was going wrong. I made a Matcha Macaron using the same Earl Grey recipe just substituted the earl grey tea for matcha powder.
This time around, I did not over beat the egg whites and I did let the oven breathe. I got the frille and they were not hollow. I was really happy with how they turned out.
Here is a close up of the feet. The oven was set to 300F and I baked them for about 15 mins. Rotate as needed.
I made a Matcha Buttercream to compliment the Matcha Macaron. The recipe for the buttercream was adapted from the blog of Ironwhisk. I can best describe this macaron as tasting like Green Tea Ice Cream.
Matcha Macaron recipe (Makes about 18 (1 1/2 in diameter))
Ingredients:
2 egg whites, at room temperature
5 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup 2 tbsp almond meal
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp Matcha powder
pinch of salt
Let's make macarons!
1. In a bowl, sift almond meal and confectioner sugar. Add matcha powder. Add pinch of salt. Mix lightly and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites over low speed until they begin to froth. Add sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Continue beating until egg whites to medium-high speed until they are glossy and stiff peaks form. Do not over beat the eggs or else you will get hollow insides. You can also use a kitchen aid stand mixer alternatively if you want.
3. Add half of the dry mixture to the egg whites, and fold gently from the outside in using a rubber spatula, until all ingredients are well combined. Repeat with the other half of the dry mixture. Also, do not over mix!
4. Test the consistency of the batter by scooping up some of it with the spatula and letting it fall back into the bowl. If it falls heavily in chunks (or not at all), you will need to press some of the air out. With the rubber spatula, begin scraping from the outside in, and then press down on the center with the flat of the spatula (you can also press the batter against the side of the bowl). After repeating 5 times, test the batter consistency again. You want it to slowly dripping off the spatula back into the bowl and easily absorbing back into the batter at the bottom. If still too thick, press the air out a few more times being careful not to over mix.
5. Pour batter into a pastry or gallon-sized Ziplock bag (fit the pastry bag with a piping tip first). It helps if you put it in a cup. If using a Ziplock bag, snip 1/4" from one corner, twist up the loose end, and pipe onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet or silpat so that the macarons are about 1" to 1-1/2" in diameter and about an inch apart. They have templates online. When all the batter is piped out, firmly tap the baking sheet on the counter a few times, then let rest for about 30 minutes. It is important to let them completely dry! Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 300ºF.
6. After the macarons have rested, bake in oven for about 15 minutes, keeping an eye on the tops to ensure they don't brown. If you have two racks, put one on top and one on bottom. After 2 mins, quickly open and close the oven to let the moisture out. This will create the little foots on the macarons. Rotate as necessary. Remove from oven, lift parchment paper with macarons onto a wire rack and let cool completely before filling.
Matcha Buttercream recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp whipping cream
2 tbsp matcha powder
Time to make the filling!
1. Cream the butter until light and fluffy, about two minutes with a mixer. (A stand mixer is great to use here.)
2. Add confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, whipping cream and matcha powder and beat together for four minutes until desired consistency.
3. Transfer into piping bag for filling.
If you like Green Tea/Matcha, you will enjoy these. I am not a big fancy of things that are too sweet and that is why I add a pinch of salt to my dry ingredients. The salt helps to tame the sweetness. Enjoy!!!!
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