Step by Step Matcha Green Tea Macaron Goodness Recipe

You can certainly never go wrong with using matcha (also known as green tea powder) in your macarons. For this batch of macarons I ended up doing it twice as the amount of matcha powder was just not enough the first time around. If you want intense matcha flavour, blend the powder into the body of your shells as well as infusing it into the buttercream. 
Here's the matcha green powder that I finally managed to find (in Edmonton). This little tin cost $8 and according to the lady at the Chinese tea place, even a little teaspoon is packed with intense flavour and "is potent". Needless to say, I wanted to try out what she meant by 'potent' and went for 6g of the matcha powder grounded into the shell, and 2tsp for the buttercream.  

The ingredients and instructions for making these macarons are the same as what I've been baking lately (Macaron 101 tutorial series). Just note the changes for the amount of matcha powder you will need for the buttercream and for the shells. 


Matcha Macaron Shells

Ingredients

  • 5g of Dehydrated Egg White Powder (also known as albumen) 
  • 28g of Granulated Sugar
  • 6g matcha powder
  • 205g of Powdered Sugar (also known as icing sugar)
  • 125g of Almond Meal
  • 100g of Aged Egg Whites (2-3 days in airtight container at room temperature)

Buyer's notes:
  • If you're in Edmonton. You can purchase Albumen/Dehydrated Egg White Powder at Barbs Kitchen Centre.
  • I purchase my almond meal from Bulk Barn. They often have coupons where if you spend $10 you get $3 off. The key is spend right up to $10 to get the most out of the discount.
  • Matcha powder (also known as green tea powder) can be purchased at this little tea shop around 97st & 34 ave or T&T grocery market. I have also seen it at most Korean stores. There are a few Korean stores in Edmonton that I frequent. Two of them are in Millwoods- Korean Central Market at 9271 34 Ave NW and Korean Japanese Food and Wares at 3116 Parsons Road NW. In the Donnan/Bonnie Doon area there is L & K Oriental Foods and Imports at 7743 85 St NW. 
  • For more information about equipment and ingredients take a look at my Macaron 101 post.

Directions:

  1. Measure all ingredients with a scale.
  2. Process the almond meal, powdered (icing) sugar and matcha powder in the food processor. Sift everything through a fine mesh. If there are any large lumps of almond meal, process it again. 
  3. Attach whisk to the stand-up mixer and place 100g of egg whites into the mixer bowl. Whisk at a low speed (2 on my Kitchen Aid).
  4. When egg whites are foamy (mousse-like) add in the dehydrated egg white powder (albumen) and granulated sugar mixture.
  5. Add in two drops of gel food colouring (I used Wilton Green Leaf gel food colouring). If you want a darker colour add more now as the colour of the shells will lighten in the oven.
  6. Increase speed on Kitchen Aid to 4. Beat egg whites until "soft peaks" form for the meringue. To test if the meringue is at the correct stage, do a check by stopping the mixer and tilting the whisk back to check the firmness of the peak. If a small peak forms on the end of the whisk, then you are done. Ensure that the meringue is not too stiff or foamy since that means you have gone too far. You have now made the "meringue" stage of the macaron.
  7. Slowly incorporate the almond meal sugar mixture, by mixing 2 tablespoons at a time to the meringue in a clockwise direction. For a visual demonstration of the mixing technique, see this video clip.  Note: I found that splitting the mixing into six parts (with each part being approx. 2 tablespoons) and mixing a certain number of turns helps to achieve the best macaron shells.  This step is probably one of the most crucial steps in making macarons; also known as the macaronage process.
    Beyond Umami's Macaronage Mixing Guide
    1st part = 16 turns
    2nd part = 11 turns
    3rd part = 14 turns
    4th part = 11 turns
    5th part = 11 turns
    6th part = 23 turns
  8. Once mixture feels and looks like magma (flows slowly)transfer to a piping bag.
  9. Prepare the baking sheets by lining either silicon mats or parchment paper.
  10. Pipe each macaron shell by piping small circles (See video clip for demonstration of piping).
  11. Firmly rap tray on the floor or counter to get rid of any air bubbles inside the shells. This is called "tamping".
  12. Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles from the surface of the macaron shells. (See video for further explanation)
  13. Allow the trays of macarons shells to rest for at least 30-45 minutes in a draft-free place until a skin forms on the top of the shell and it is dry to the touch. 
  14. Preheat oven to 270-295 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperature will vary depending on your oven (see baking notes below). 
  15. Put one tray in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes. Bake trays one at a time. 
  16. Take out of oven, allow the macarons to cool.
  17. Gently, peel the shells from the mat.
  18. Match macaron shells by size, then pipe a small mound of matcha buttercream onto each half shell (Here's a quick visual tutorial on piping bag basics). 
  19. Top with the remaining shell and give a slight twist to secure the macaron together.
Oven Notes
  • Oven temperature may range from anywhere 290 to 300 depending on your oven. Best practice is to pipe a few macarons and test at various temperatures and times in the oven.
  • The temperature that you bake your macarons at may depend on what type of oven you have.If baking in a regular oven at 295F put one tray in the oven and bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the tray (by now the feet should have formed) and bake for another 10 minutes.
  • If baking in a regular oven at 270F (which is what I've been baking my macarons since I moved), bake the shells for 30 minutes one tray at a time. If baking in a convection oven, preheat your oven to 280F and bake for 12-15 minutes. They will be done when there is a firm crust on the top and the sought after ruffled edge; otherwise known as the pied (feet in French).
  • I discovered that it's optimal to not have more than 20 large macaron shells (or 30 medium shells) on a single tray.
  • Use a thick and heavy-weight baking tray for optimal results.


Matcha Green Tea Buttercream 

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp Matcha Powder
  • 1 tablespoon of hot water to dissolve powder 
  • 80g (approx. 1/2 cup) superfine sugar
  • 25g water 
  • 1 whole egg 
  • 1 egg yolk 
  • 160g soft unsalted butter (cut into cubes) 
Directions:

  1. Bring sugar and water to a boil in a small pot. Heat the sugar to 250F(120C) using a candy thermometer. If it boils, clean the sides of the pan with a damp pastry brush. Try not to mix the solution, but allow it to heat on its own.
  2. In another bowl or the bowl of your Kitchen Aid whisk the eggs and egg yolks until it lightens in colour.
  3. Once the hot sugar mixture reaches 250F pour immediately into the whisking egg mixture. Then, increase to a higher whisking speed. Continue whisking until the mixture has cooled down completely. It will start to look like a meringue and be glossy.
  4. Keep whisking the meringue until it has cooled. Meanwhile, cream then whisk the butter until it has thickened. Once the egg mixture-meringue has cooled, add the butter. Add the whisked butter slowly into the meringue.
  5. Continue whisking until the buttercream is smooth. It may curdle slightly but this is okay. Keep whisking and the buttercream will come back together. Take a look at this video for making a buttercream (in the video I am making pumpkin spice buttercream but you can still follow the video with the instructions below).
  6. Dissolve the matcha powder in the hot water. Mix well.
  7. Slowly add the matcha powder solution (when cool) to the buttercream. 
  8. Continue whisking the butter and matcha powder solution. The buttercream may look wet; but keep on whisking.
  9. Once everything is combined and looks like buttercream (1-2 minutes); switch to the paddle attachment. Beat on low speed for a minute in order to eliminate air bubbles.
  10. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Continue beating until the buttercream is smooth.

notes: 
  • the first time I did this, I used only 1 tsp of matcha powder. That was certainly not enough! To get more of an intense flavour (and colour) try using at least 1 tbsp. 
  • You can dissolve the matcha powder in up to 2 tbsp of water, but I found that this took longer for the buttercream to set as it was more wet. It's also important to allow the dissolved matcha powder solution to cool before adding to the buttercream. 
  • Superfine sugar can be made by taking granulated sugar and processing in a food processor.
See the colour difference between adding more or
less matcha powder in the shell and buttercream?



Comments

  1. Where did you get that matcha green tea?

    ReplyDelete
  2. @katherine: where do you live? If in Edmonton like I mentioned above there are several places you can find it. Chinese grocery stores like T & T, Korean or Japanese stores on parsons & 34.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you're serious about matcha, you need to order the real stuff directly from farms in Japan. There are quite a few reputable websites where you can buy it and they mail it to you within 2 weeks.
    Anything you can get in a supermarket is not real matcha. I used to drink the brand you have here, but after I tried the other kind I can't go back! The flavour is completely different... so much smoother and no hint of bitterness/grassy taste at all. You should try it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What websites have you found to be the best?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love Matcha!!! All your macarons look so good!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi people,

    Thank you so much for this wonderful article really!

    If someone want to learn more about the Matcha green tea I think this is the right place for you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Matcha tea is the best. Check out mikamatcha they do organic Japanese.

    ReplyDelete

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