The perfect Valentine’s day gift? A box of matcha macarons! Lovely green matcha-flavoured macaron shells filled with a simple vanilla buttercream. Who said Valentine’s day stuff can’t be green and taste like green tea? Matcha green tea was an internet sensation some time ago and I’m late in the matcha game. Got my hands on my first jar of matcha powder at a grocery store in Thailand last summer. I am only saving it for special occasions. I thought Valentine’s day was one worth using my precious green tea powder to make green tea matcha macarons.

The truth is neither my husband nor I are big Valentine’s day fans. We actually spent our very first Valentine’s day apart – he was playing football and I went to the movies with a friend. It’s just a day like any other on the calendar, we celebrate loving each other on other occasions throughout the year – often at spontaneous and unplanned times. Still, whether you’re doing this on February 14 or not, it’s always nice to give a little gift to your one and only. I am an advocate of home-made gifts, particularly when they are food-related. Making macarons requires quite a bit of work and skills, thus proving gifts of excellent value.

Making macarons: a labour of love

Matcha macarons are not my first attempt at this extravagantly difficult dessert. I have made macarons in the past and have always reported my frustrations and successes on the blog. I seem to have this love-hate relationship with the exquisite French delicacies. The first time I made macarons I went for plain shells and a blueberry buttercream. It was my first time making macarons and I am still impressed by how good I did.

It took a year to get into the macaron game again, and the following year I produced chocolate macarons. Lightly coloured in brown, they were filled with a rich chocolate ganache. I had some doubts about their final outcome but the flavour was absolutely divine. Bitter chocolate ganache balances so perfectly the overly sweet flavour of the shells.

Another year passed and I felt like the time to partake in my yearly macaron challenge had come so I stepped up the game and produced pink macarons filled with rose buttercream. I had made a batch of rose petals in sugar preserve and I just felt like I needed to use those as filling in my macarons. I need to admit I was pretty hyped about those rose flavoured macarons!

Although not a big fan of macarons I still end up always making some every year so this time it’s green tea matcha. This time I have flavoured the shells, adding the matcha powder to the macaron batter. It was quite strong already so I decided to go for a simple vanilla buttercream as filling in order to keep the flavour sober and balanced. You can find my simple Swiss meringue buttercream in this recipe, for example – just skip adding any essential oils.

Aging eggs for macarons

If you check out the recipe that I use to make macarons you’ll notice that every time I stress that one needs to use aged egg whites. I blindly follow a recipe I was given by a person I blindly trust so I do not argue on the eggs. Making macarons is a fragile equation and I do not dare to challenge its magical chemistry. Egg whites need to be aged? Very well, I’ll age my eggs.

By aging the egg whites I mean leaving them in the fridge for 5 days in an airtight container. Just crack your eggs open, separate the yolks from the whites and collect the whites in a container that is big enough to fit them without too much leftover space – you want to reduce having too much air trapped in, so go for a smaller jar if you’ve chosen one that is too big. The eggs I have here in Sweden are medium-small, and in order to get the 150 g of egg whites required by the recipe I generally need to use 5 eggs. The volume of the egg whites is roughly 120 ml, if that helps finding the right sized container to age your egg whites in.

The macaron recipe I follow is one based on making Italian meringue, which means you need to have a candy thermometer. I’ve seen simplified versions of the macaron recipe on Tasty, but I like a good challenge that time once a year when I make macarons. I’m going all the way as to aging my egg whites, could I possibly want to go the easier way when it comes to whipping the egg whites with the sugar? Of course not. I beat my aged egg whites with a sugar syrup that measures 120°C, this is how big I like my challenge.

Overall I just think that making macarons is great fun. I had a lot of fun making this batch of green tea matcha macarons and even greater fun during the photo shoot once I realized how gracefully the pale green macarons were contrasting with the other elements in the photo shoot. We are not big Valentine’s day people and my husband doesn’t even like matcha that much so I wonder why did I go this far this time? I guess next year I’ll just go for something a bit less exotic.

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5 from 1 vote

Matcha green tea macarons

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 35 minutes

Cook Time 18 minutes

Resting time 30 minutes

Total Time 53 minutes

Ingredients

• 200 g almond meal
• 200 g confectioner's sugar
• 200 g granulated sugar
• 150 g egg whites (aged)
• 50 g water
• 1 tsp matcha powder
• green food colouring

Instructions

• Divide the egg whites into 2 bowls of 75 g each. Set aside one bowl and sift the almond meal and the powdered sugar in the other. Add the matcha powder and a small quantity of green food colouring. Mix with a rubber spatula until you get a thick almond paste. 
• Combine the water and the granulated sugar in a small saucepan and set it on the stove on medium heat. Have the bowl with the egg white at hand, and the mixer ready. Check the temperature of the sugar syrup with a candy thermometer and when it reaches 110°C start beating the egg whites. Continue cooking the syrup, you need to bring it to 121°C. Since it's safer to have a couple degrees less, I always set my thermometer to 118°C to have the time to take it away from the stove and pour it into the whisked egg whites. Pour the hot syrup in one thin stream always mixing. Keep mixing until the meringue reaches room temperature.
• When the meringue has cooled to room temperature, add the almond paste to the meringue bowl in two batches. Incorporate the almond paste gently and firmly at the same time, working the mixture with the spatula against the sides of the bowl. This helps to get rid of excess air in the batter. Stop the moment you see that the mixture is smooth and clump free.
  
• Transfer the batter to a piping bag and pipe small circles onto a tray lined with parchment paper. The macarons need to be quite spaced out as they tend to grow larger as the batter sets. Let rest for 30 minutes.
• When the surface of the macaron shells is dry to the touch, bake them in the preheated oven at 145°C for 18 minutes. Remove the parchment aper sheet from the hot baking tray as soon as you take the shells out of the oven. Let the macarons cool completely, then fill and sandwich two shells to create beautiful macarons.