Green Tea and Chocolate Macarons

For my friend's birthday, her boyfriend secretly asked me if I could bake something for the bonfire. I excitedly agreed and we talked about what she would love to eat. The result - macarons and anything blueberry. I made the lemon blueberry crumble bars because she had never tried them before, and green tea and chocolate macarons. Friday was definitely a failure as I had forgotten to put the sugar into the crumble bars, and I ran out of almond flour and couldn't make enough macarons for 15 people. Thankfully, I had most of Saturday to go out and get the rest of the ingredients.

They turned out better than I could've asked, which was great because it was for a dear friend! I made 4 kinds using 2 flavors: Chocolate with chocolate cream, Green tea with green tea cream, Chocolate with green tea cream, and Green tea with chocolate cream. Did you get all that??


I basically used the same recipe for both, but substituted green tea powder where the chocolate powder would normally go. It turned out to be fine. I always get nervous when putting the macarons into the oven to bake. Why? Because one mistake during the process will result in flat or failed macarons. But 13 minutes later, I peered in and saw that they were going to be just fine.

We have "feet"!


From front to back: Choco + green tea, choco + choco, green tea + green tea, green tea + choco



Chocolate and Green Tea Macarons adapted from Annie's Eats
Ingredients:
For the macarons:
110 gm almond flour
200 gm minus 2 tbsp. confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa powder OR green tea powder
100 gm egg whites (from about 3 eggs), room temperature
50 gm granulated sugar

For the espresso ganache:

9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped 1 cup heavy cream

For the green tea buttercream:
1½ stick of butter
1 tbsp. green tea powder
2 tbsp. milk
2 cups of powdered sugar

Directions:
Sift the almond flour, powdered sugar, and cocoa in a bowl. Set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium-high speed until foamy. Gradually add the granulated sugar and continue beating until a smooth, shiny meringue with stiff peaks forms. Add the ground almond mixture to the bowl with the meringue and quickly but gently fold together using a wide rubber spatula until no streaks remain. You want to achieve a thick batter that ribbons or flows from the spatula when lifted.

Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats. Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a plain wide round tip. Pipe into small rounds on the prepared baking sheets (each round should be about 1-1½ inches in diameter), spaced about 1 inch apart. Let sit at room temperature for about 30-60 minutes to develop a hard shell.

Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on size and your oven. Transfer the pans to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely before moving the cookies.

While the cookies are cooling, make the ganache or buttercream:

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

1.	Place the chocolate into a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, watching very carefully because if it boils for a few seconds, it will boil out of the pot. When the cream has come to a boil, pour over the chopped chocolate, and whisk until smooth.
2.	Allow the ganache to cool and thicken before filling each macaron shell.

GREEN TEA BUTTERCREAM
1. Cream the butter, green tea powder, and milk together until smooth.
2. Add one cup of powdered sugar at a time until you reach the desired sweetness and consistency.

Once the cookies are totally cooled, match them up by size. Pipe a layer of ganache/buttercream onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair. Sandwich together with the remaining cookie, pushing the filling to the edges.