Lavender Earl Grey Easter Bunny Macarons (Template)

In a small pot bring the heavy cream, lavender buds and Earl Grey tea to a light simmer. Take off heat. Once cooled, place in the fridge to macerate overnight. 

The next day, pour the mixture through a strainer. Keep 50 grams of the macerated cream for our current use. 

Chop up chocolate into small pieces, place in a bowl with the butter. 

Bring the 50 grams of macerated cream to a light simmer. 

Pour over chopped chocolate and butter, let it sit for 1 minute. 

Stir until incorporated. Let it cool to set before transferring to piping bag. 

Print out the bunny macaron template provided in post. 

Set aged egg whites out at room temperature. 

Pulse Earl Grey tea leaves, lavender buds, almond flour and powdered sugar together in a food processor. 

Sift dry ingredients. Discard big pieces of almond that can't be sifted. 

Split up the dry ingredients into two equal parts to make two different colored macaron batters. 

IF YOU ARE NEW TO MAKING MACARONS, please read the instructions to my BEST MACARON RECIPE before attempting to follow the rest of the instructions since it is condensed for the advanced macaron baker. 

With the balloon whisk attached, whip the room temperature egg whites on low-medium speed. 

Add cream of tartar when it becomes foamy.

Turn up the speed to medium. 

Once the whisk starts to leave tracks in the egg whites, add sugar a little at a time.

Turn the speed up to medium-high and whip until stiff peaks. 

Split up the meringue into two equal parts. 

Add the purple gel colour to one set of meringue. Leave the other set uncolored for white. 

Fold the almond flour and meringue together until the batter becomes a "lava" or honey-like consistency. 

Transfer batter into 2 piping bags fitted with a #6 round piping tip. 

On parchment paper or silicone mats, pipe the round head first with the "main" color. Do this part for every bunny first, this will allow time for the different parts to develop a thin skin. Do not attempt to pipe one whole bunny at a time. 

Pipe a small dab of batter with the inverse color for the center of the bunny's ears. Do this for every bunny before moving onto next step.

Pipe the bunny's main body with the main color. Do this for every bunny before moving onto next step.

Fill in the rest of the ears with the main color. Do this for every bunny before moving onto next step.

Pipe the bunny's tail with the inverse color. 

Wait until the shells become completely dry before baking. This is critical to prevent cracking. 

Bake at 325F for 16 minutes. Every oven is different,  you may need to adjust your own temperature settings. Please read How to Use Home Oven Properly for Baking Macarons if you are unsure. 

Once baked, let cool completely before removing from the baking mat/parchment paper. 

Pair two similar sized bunnies, fill them with the Lavender Earl Grey Chocolate Ganache filling. Place in an airtight container in the fridge and wait for it to set before decorating.

Add eyes, nose and wreath with some 15-second royal icing (recipe below). Place in an airtight container in the fridge and wait for it to dry completely before packaging. 

Add 1-2 tsp of water to the dry mixture and stir with a spatula to get the mixture going. If it's still lumpy, add another 1 tsp of water and stir again. 

With the spray bottle, slowly spritz water onto the mixture until it reaches the proper consistency of a "15 second" icing. When a knife cuts through the icing, it will take 15 second for the cut to disappear. 

If it's still too thick, spritz more water. If it's too runny, add more icing sugar. 

Optional: Split up the icing and add gel food color to the mixture and mix gently until fully incorporated.