Matcha Macarons with Strawberry Buttercream Filling
Add matcha powder to Italian method macarons for vibrant green shells and fill with an easy, freeze dried strawberry buttercream.
Equipment
- Round Piping Bag Tip Wilton size 12
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
Matcha Macarons
- 150 g almond flour super finely ground
- 150 g powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp matcha
- 110 g egg whites from about 4 eggs
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 90 mL water
Strawberry Buttercream
- 4 g freeze dried strawberries about 1/4 cup
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 1 stick
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
Instructions
For Matcha Macarons
- Prepare 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Sift almond flour, powdered sugar, and matcha into a bowl. Whisk until well combined. Add half the egg whites (55g) and stir until a thick paste forms. Cover and set aside.
- Add remaining 55g of egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment and set aside.
- Place 150g of granulated sugar and 90mL of water in a stainless steel saucepan. Attach a candy thermometer and cook on stovetop until mixture reaches 244 degrees F. Turn off the heat and set aside while you immediately prepare the remaining egg whites (Do not pause cooking at this step for any reason!).
- Beat the egg whites from step 3 until soft peaks form.
- CAREFULLY drizzle in the hot sugar solution with the mixer running on low. Increase speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form.
- Take 1/3 of the beaten egg whites and mix into the almond flour paste from step 2 until fully incorporated.
- Fold the remaining 2/3 of the beaten egg whites into your batter using a silicone spatula for your macaronage. When you hold your spatula with the batter dripping off the edge, it should spill down in a slow stream that looks like a ribbon back into the bowl. After a few seconds, the "ribbon" should melt back into a blob. If it holds its defined shape, you need to keep mixing. If it melts immediately back into a liquidy batter, you've overmixed and need to start the entire recipe over.
- Scoop batter into a piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe 1.5 inch circles spaced evenly apart on your prepared baking sheets. In a typical 9x13" sheet, I pipe about 4 circles across and 5 rows down, for about 20 macaron shells per sheet.
- Holding the baking sheet in both hands, firmly rap the sheet onto a table or counter to pop any air bubbles in your piped macarons.
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F and set piped macarons aside, uncovered, for at least 20 minutes.
- Bake macaron shells in an even layer in your oven for 13-15 minutes, or until the macarons pull easily off the parchment. It's better to overbake than underbake. If you can't fit all your baking sheets in one even layer in your oven, you will have to bake in batches; the remaining unbaked macarons can be left out uncovered while you wait.
- Let baked macaron shells cool completely while you prepare the strawberry filling.
For Strawberry Buttercream
- Pulse freeze dried strawberries in a food process or blender into a fine powder.
- Beat softened butter until creamy, then add powdered sugar and strawberry powder. Beat until well incorporated.
- Add tbsp of heavy cream and beat buttercream until light and fluffy.
For Macaron Assembly
- Scoop buttercream into a separate piping bag fitted with a round tip.
- Divide macaron shells into pairs, matching by size. Pipe buttercream onto one shell of each macaron pair, leaving a few millimeters border between the frosting and the edge of the shell.
- Gently press the matching shell onto the buttercream, squishing the frosting to the edges of the macaron.
- Macarons can be eaten at this point, but taste best after they have been rested in an airtight container in the fridge overnight. Let macarons come to room temperature before eating.