Cardamom Chai Macarons

Instructions

Macaron Shells

-Prepare 2 baking sheets with silicone mats, teflon, or templates and parchment paper.

-Fit a piping bag with a round piping tip or cut tip off from plastic gallon bag. Set aside.

-Preheat oven to 285°F.

-Pulse the almond flour and powdered sugar in a food processor and sift into a bowl. Discard any large chunks.

-Add the chai and cardamom. Whisk the dry ingredients and set aside.

-In a small bowl, combine sugar and egg white powder (if using). Whisk until completely combined and there are no more lumps of egg white powder. Set aside.

-Combine egg whites and powdered color.

-In a clean stand mixer bowl, combine the sugar mixture and the egg whites. Whisk to combine and place bowl over a double boiler. Heat, whisking regularly, until the sugar dissolves, about 90 seconds. Remove the bowl from the double boiler and carefully dry off the bottom.

-Place the bowl in the stand mixer and whisk on a medium speed (KitchenAid 4) until you have stiff peaks, about 10- 15 minutes.

-Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and begin folding the ingredients together. Once everything is combined, continue folding until the batter flows slowly like lava.

-Pipe macaron shells onto prepared baking sheets. Let the macarons dry until you can lightly brush the tops with your finger (15- 20 mins for me).

-Bake for 22 minutes, rotating halfway through. Gently poke shell, if it is firm, remove from the oven to cool. If they wiggle, add another minute or two.

-Let the macaron shells cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Cardamom Chai Ganache

-Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and add the chai tea bags and ground seeds from the cardamom pod. Cover the pot and let the flavors infuse for 10 minutes.

-Strain the solids and measure out 2 ounces of the cream. Heat the infused liquid until steaming, then pour over the white chocolate in a small heat proof bowl. Stir until smooth.

-Press clingwrap onto the surface of the ganache. Let the ganache cool to room temperature before using. If making in advance, once cool the ganache can be covered and stored in the fridge. Bring the ganache back to room temperature before using.

Assemble

-Pair up the macaron shells. Fill a piping bag with ganache and pipe a dollop onto one shell, then top with the other shell. Repeat with the remaining macaron shells.

-For decorating, you can brush or splatter edible gold paint onto the filled macarons.

Place in an airtight container in the fridge overnight to let them mature. Remove 30 minutes before serving.

Notes

I was able to pipe 60 shells, which made 30 macarons. You could have a few more or a few less depending on how large you pipe your shells.

For maximum color intensity, mix the egg whites and color powder about an hour before beginning the recipe.

If you end up with less than 2 oz of infused cream, multiply the amount of cream by 3. That's how much white chocolate you will need. For example, 1.5 oz of cream means you need 4.5 oz of white chocolate.