Tea Infused Macaron Shells
Matcha green tea macarons is one of the most popular macaron flavors and for good reason. Matcha green tea has a slightly bitter taste and is a great contrast to sweet macaron shells that consists mainly of sugar and almonds. Green tea and white chocolate filling is a great pairing, especially so for those who find macarons to be too sweet.
Matcha green tea powder is one of my favourite flavourings to use in baking because the flavour is so stable and comes out true to taste across a variety of different baked goods. This is the case for macarons as well.
I’ve tried pairing this matcha shell with both a chocolate ganache and white chocolate “ganache”. The white one was the hands down winner because it did the best job in highlighting the distinct characteristics of the bitter matcha flavour. This will be the recipe that I will be sharing with you today.
I hope you enjoy it too.
XOXO,
Mimi
"Matcha" Green Tea Macaron Recipe
A beloved Japanese flavor in macaron form. Matcha green tea is infused into the shells making the macaron extra flavorful. White chocolate ganache is sandwiched in between for a delicious flavor pairing.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Shells:
- 65 grams almond flour (Read: How to make your own almond flour)
- 65 grams powdered sugar
- 45 grams castor sugar (or a.k.a “berry” sugar or extra fine granulated sugar)
- 50 grams egg white - aged* (Read: How to age egg whites)
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar or 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
- Green GEL Colour of your choice (DO NOT use liquid color)
- 1 tablespoon matcha powder
Ingredients for the Filling:
- 100 grams chopped white chocolate
- 30 grams heavy cream
Instructions
Matcha Macaron Shells Instructions
- Set aged egg whites out at room temperature.
- Print out free macaron template in the Subscriber's Only Area.
- Pulse almond flour, icing sugar, and matcha powder together in a food processor.
- Sift dry ingredients. Discard big pieces of almond that can't be sifted.
- 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.
- Add green gel colour if desired to meringue.
- Fold the almond flour and meringue together until the batter becomes a "lava" or honey-like consistency.
- Transfer batter into piping bag fitted with a round piping tip.
- On parchment paper or silicone mats, pipe the round macaron shells.
- Wait until the shells have developed a "skin" and have become completely dry before baking. This is critical to prevent cracking.
- Bake at 325F for 12-14 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.
White Chocolate Ganache Macaron Filling Instructions
- Chop up or grate white chocolate into fine pieces.
- Heat up the heavy cream in a small sauce pan on low heat, watch it so that it doesn’t over boil.
- Once it starts to steam and small bubbles appear on the side, immediately pour it over the chopped white chocolate.
- Blend well with a spatula until fully incorporated.
- Let it cool and firm up a bit before piping
Assembly:
- Find two similar sized macaron shells.
- Pipe a dallop of the the ganache in the center of one of the shells, assemble with the other shell.
- Place in an airtight container and let mature for 24 hours before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
*Egg whites should be measured first and then aged. DO NOT use meringue powder as a substitute.
Leni says
hi Mimi! lately I’ve been obsessed with matcha. And I tried these and they tasted so good, but they turned out hollow and lopsided.also can you add less castor sugar in the egg whites? and also can you create a red bean butter cream.
Mimi says
Hi Leni,
Please take a look at the troubleshooting guide for how to deal with hollows and lopsided macarons. You can reduce some of the castor sugar but sugar is an integral part of the macaron, it will be less stable the more sugar you have. For red bean buttercream, I will create a recipe once I find a bit more time. In the meantime, you can make the Adzuki bean paste from this Matcha Adzuki Bean Cake Roll and then fold it into the Swiss Meringue Buttercream or add it into another type of base.
Isabelle says
How many does this recipe make? It says 12 but does not specify if it is 12 filled macarons, or 12 singular shells?
Mimi says
12 assembled macarons XoXo Mimi
Lai Chin Yap says
Hi, may i know how to achieve nice green colour? It is very hard to achieve nice green colour if matcha powder is used in the recipe. It tends to brown during baking. Pls share your tips. Thank you!
Mimi says
Hi Lai,
As per the recipe, I also added some green gel food coloring. It’s not necessary to add it if you are looking for a natural macaron color but if you want to achieve the same look as the stores, then a bit of food color is needed. As for the browning, you’ll need to control the oven temperature a bit better. Have you ready my Oven Guide for Baking Macarons yet?
XOXO,
Mimi
Assile says
Hi Mimi!
I’ll be attempting to make these macarons soon! They look so yummy, btw. How many macarons does this recipe make? And also, will it be okay if I don’t use gel food colouring? Thanks a lot 🙂
Mimi says
oh and you can definitely leave out the colouring. It will just look a little more yellowish-brownish than the usual “matcha” green most people will be used to when they see matcha baked goodies.
XOXO,
Mimi
Assile says
Hi Mimi!
I’ll be attempting to make these macarons soon! The look so yummy, btw. How many macarons does this recipe make? And also, will it be okay if I don’t add the gel food colouring?
~ Thanks a lot
Mimi says
Thank you! It makes 12 macarons around 1.75 – 2 inches. You will yield more if you pipe them smaller.
XOXO, Mimi
Mimi says
Thank you to @Guacarons for tagging me on Instagram. You did a wonderful job with the recipe! XOXO, Mimi
Su-Lyn says
Hi Mimi!
Thank you so much for helping me so far along in my macaron journey. Your little tips and amazing recipes have helped me perfect my home baked macarons!
Quick question – for the white chocolate ganache. It hardens up quite a bit in the fridge when I pop the filled macarons in to ‘rest’ overnight. Is there any way we can get around this apart from taking them out of the fridge to ‘defrost’ for a while? Perhaps add a bit more cream to the white chocolate?
Thanks <3
Mimi says
Hi Su-lyn,
I’m happy to hear you are having such good results with my recipe.
Macarons should be eaten after they come to room temperature so usually if you take them out of the fridge for 10 minutes, it becomes more tender and soft. Most of the time, I find they are often kept at room temperature for a while before eating so they tend to fall apart if the filling is too soft. If you do want to tweak this recipe a bit, I would recommend adding more cream or butter to reduce the hardness 🙂
XOXO,
Mimi
Mei Ting says
Hi Mimi! I’ve tried making green tea macarons using your recipe as well as some others and for some reason my tops always come out wrinkly?? This only happens with the green tea ones. Plain shells with gel food coloring, shells with cocoa powder and food coloring, shells with earl grey tea leaves and food coloring that I’ve made using same ingredient amounts and baking conditions as well as batter making situations (same day, same methods, same tools) all come out fine. I’ve made green tea macarons successfully once years ago but haven’t made it since. Not sure why the last 6 or so times in a row they aren’t working. Any insight? I’ve even tried two different brands of matcha and decreasing the amount of matcha. Aside from the wrinkles, the shells otherwise have ruffled feet and are full/no hollows. >_<
Mimi says
You might want to try a higher and longer temperature to solve this issue.
XOXO,
Mimi