Strawberry Matcha (Green Tea) Macarons

Happy Valentine’s day! Today, I’m sharing my strawberry matcha (green tea) macaron recipe. The matcha flavor offsets some of the sweetness of the macaron shells, and when combined with just a hint of strawberry flavor in the filling, these macarons are so perfect. This is definitely my favorite macaron recipe so far. What’s your favorite?

green food coloring

strawberry icing

sandwich bag for piping

sifting

macaron batter

piped macaron batter

matcha powder

strawberries

If you’re new to making macarons, please also read my previous post for some tips and tricks.

Here’s what you’ll need to make strawberry matcha macarons:

(This recipes makes about 56 macaron shells; that’s 28 filled macarons)

Macaron shells:

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 3/4 cup ground almonds
• 3 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 large egg whites (room temperature)
• 2 tsp matcha powder
• 3 drops green food coloring

Filling:

• 3/4 cup icing sugar
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1/8 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 tsp strawberries (roasted and mashed)

Directions:

Macaron shells

1. Line two medium baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a food processor, process ground almonds and icing sugar for about a minute. Scrape along the inside of the food processor in between to ensure that there aren’t any large clumps and that the two ingredients are mixed well. (Special thanks to my friend, Goodies & Kitsch, for generously giving me her food processor. While you’re here, you should go check out her awesome blog.)
3. In a medium bowl, sift the almond mixture.
4. In a small bowl (be sure to use a bowl that’s not too shallow), whisk the egg whites with a handmixer on medium-low speed for about a minute until light and fluffy.
5. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to whisk the egg whites until medium-stiff for about 2 minutes. (If you turn the bowl upside-down, the egg whites don’t slide out.)
6. Gradually add granulated sugar to the egg whites while continuing to whisk on medium-high speed for another 2 minutes.
7. Gradually fold the egg mixture into the almond mixture, adding only about 1/3 of the egg mixture at a time.
8. Add matcha powder and fold.
9. Add green food coloring and fold again. (I use liquid food coloring, but most people recommend gel or powder-based food coloring. You should use whatever you’re comfortable with.)
10. Transfer the batter into a piping bag. (Or if you’re frugal like me, you can use a medium sandwich bag instead and just cut a tiny corner of the bag to pipe.)
11. Pipe batter onto baking sheets. Try to pipe small rounds that are just under 1 inch wide and at least 1/2 inch apart.
12. Preheat oven to 325°F. Let the batter sit at room temperature for about 15 to 20 minutes.
13. Turn the oven down to 300°F and put the baking sheets into the oven for 7 minutes.
14. Rotate the baking sheets and bake for 8 minutes.
15. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and allow the macaron shells to cool.

Filling:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Rinse 2 large or 3 medium strawberries, hulled and cut into halves.
3. In a small oven-safe glass pan, bake strawberries for about 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Let the strawberries cool before draining the strawberry syrup. (NOTE: You can save and refrigerate the strawberry syrup to use later on pancakes or cheesecake.)
5. Mash the strawberries and drain the excess syrup. You only need about 2 1/2 tsp of mashed strawberries.
6. In a small bowl, cream the icing sugar and butter. (I use a single whisk attachment on my handmixer and whisk on low speed.)
7. Whisk in vanilla extract.
8. Whisk in strawberries.

~
Sandwich just a small dab of filling between two macaron shells – you can pipe the filling or just gently spread the filling with a spatula.

Are you tired yet? 🙂 Yes, that was quite a bit of work, but just look at this:

strawberry matcha macaron

Trust me, it tastes just as good as it looks.

Try this recipe and let me know how it goes for you. 🙂

My new obsession with french macarons

I can’t help, but ♥ french macarons. Just a dab of frosting sandwiched between two meringue cookies; these tasty little treats are so cute, delicious, and simply irresistible.

In my quest to making the perfect macarons, I learned very quickly that they aren’t easy to master.. Like most things in life. 😉

The first time I tried to make macarons, they turned out so badly they almost destroyed all the confidence that I’ve ever had in my baking skills. They were just one big bubbly, gooey mess. It was really sad.. In retrospect, I probably should’ve looked at more macaron recipes first, instead of using the very first recipe that I could find. The problem is that you need very clear instructions, and a lot of recipes don’t give you that.

As I casually browsed for “french macarons” on YouTube one day, I stumbled upon a very helpful video by lovelyladycakes. Her How to make French Macarons video is really easy to follow. I appreciate her enthusiasm and how she genuinely seems like a happy person – who doesn’t like happy people? I’ve been using her recipe as the base recipe for other flavored macarons that I’m currently experimenting with, and I’m finding that the base recipe is working out very successfully.

Here are some things that I’ve learned so far in macaron baking that you might also find helpful:

• I was really lazy and tried to skip out on sifting the ground almonds and icing sugar. The result is a batch of macarons with bumpy surfaces. If you want the tops of the macarons to be smooth (as they should be), then pour the almonds and sugar into a food processor and process for about a minute, and then sift the mixture. Otherwise, your macarons will look like this:

bumpy surface… fail 😦

• When whisking the egg whites and fine sugar, you absolutely must whisk until stiff peaks form. Otherwise, your batter will be runny and your macarons won’t rise. I don’t have a fancy standing mixer so I just make do with my cheap handmixer. Whisk the egg whites on medium-low speed for about a minute, then turn the speed up to medium-high to whisk for 2 minutes. The egg whites should look fluffy and smooth by now. Gradually add fine sugar to the egg whites while whisking for another 2 minutes. Stiff peaks should be achieved at this point. However, if you find that the peaks aren’t quite stiff, then whisk for an extra minute on medium-high.

stiff peaks

• Piping the macaron batter takes some practice. Be patient! Try to pipe small rounds that are just about 1 inch wide and at least 1/2 inch apart. You don’t want them to stick to each other.

matcha (green tea) macarons

Take your time to perfect the base recipe. Don’t expect to get it right the first time, but definitely don’t give up because once you get it right, you’re going to feel like a million bucks. So, go! Get lots of practice until you’re comfortable enough to start making different flavors.

I’ll be sharing some macaron recipes in upcoming blog posts. Stay tuned!