Matcha Macarons

• Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip, I use a 1/2” diameter tip. Set aside.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
• Measure out all of the ingredients.
• Sift the powdered sugar, almond flour, and matcha powder together. Set it aside.
• Whisk the sugar and the egg white powder (if using) in a bowl, and place it over a pan with barely simmering water. Add the egg whites to the sugar and whisk the mixture until frothy and the sugar is completely melted. It will take a couple of minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking the mixture over the water bath.
• Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water because you don’t want the whites to cook.
• Also, don’t overheat the sugar syrup, this may cause issues down the line, such as wrinkly macarons.
• Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer.With the whisk attachment, start whisking mixture on low for about 30 seconds, then gradually start increasing speed to medium. Whisk on medium for one to two minutes, until the mixture is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise the speed to high, or medium-high and whisk for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Best way to check this is to keep your eye on the whites. Once they get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, it might be time to stop.
• Whisk until stiff peaks have formed. When you pull your whip up, the peak should be stiff and shooting straight up, with possibly a slight bend at the top, but not bending down to the side.
• Pour the sifted powdered sugar, almond flour, and matcha powder into the stiff meringue.
• Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula. Add the food coloring at this point, if using. I have added a bit of green food coloring to deepen the color.
• How to know when to stop folding the batter: It’s time to stop folding when the batter is glossy and has a thick and flowing consistency. There are several ways to test this.First, pick up some batter with the spatula and try to draw a figure 8 with the batter that is dripping off the spatula. If you can form several 8 figures without the batter breaking up, that’s one indication that it might be ready.
• There’s another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test.
• Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat. Wait a minute to see how it behaves.If the batter stays stiff, forming a point and doesn’t spread out, fold a little bit more, about 3 folds. Test again.
• Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy and smooth on top, on the parchment paper, it’s ready.
• You don’t want your batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to overmix. It’s always best to undermix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.
• When you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly the batter is ready. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
• Transfer the batter to the piping bag.
• Place the piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template. Apply gentle pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 seconds, and then quickly pull the bag up twisting slightly.
• Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each. This will release air bubbles that are in the batter and prevent your macaron shells from cracking.
• Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells.Let the trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out a little bit. I usually leave about 20-40 minutes, depending on how humid the day is. You’ll know they’re ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry.
• Pre-heat the oven to 300ºF.
• Bake one tray at a time.
• Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
• Bake for 5 more minutes. Rotate again.
• I bake each tray for about 15 to 20 minutes.
• When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. If you try to move a macaron, it shouldn’t feel jiggly. If the macaron is still jiggly, keep baking.Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
• Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.

Matcha Buttercream

• While macarons cool down, you can make the filling.
• Cream the butter on medium speed, until creamy, for about 1 minute. Add the powdered sugar and matcha and beat until mixture is fluffy and incorporated, another minute. If mixture seems too stiff, add the milk, or water. Mix to combine and add more milk as necessary.
• If the buttercream is too runny, add more powdered sugar to make it thicker.

Matcha Ganache

• Place the white chocolate in a glass or stainless steel bowl.
• Add one tablespoon of heavy cream to the matcha and mix with a spoon or fork until a paste is formed.
• Slowly add the rest of the heavy cream while stirring to combine. This will prevent any lumps from forming.
• Heat the heavy cream and matcha together in a small saucepan until it almost comes to a boil.
• Remove from the heat and pour over the white chocolate. If you notice the heavy cream and matcha mixture is lumpy, you can pour it through a sieve.
• After pouring the heavy cream over the chocolate cover the bowl with a plate or a towel and let it sit for 1 minute.
• Next, stir the white chocolate and hot heavy cream together until the chocolate has melted entirely.
• Set it aside until it cools to room temperature. It will thicken as it cools down. If making ahead you can place it in the fridge and then re-heat it gently in the microwave before using, for about 5 second intervals, and stirring in between, until the ganache isn't super hard anymore. Careful not to over heat it, because if the ganache gets too runny, it needs to go back in the fridge or sit for a while at room temperature to get thicker. And also, if you re-heat the chocolate too much, it will separate and become grainy.

To assemble

• Put the filling in a piping bag. Pipe a dollop in each macaron and close the sandwich.

Storage

• These Matcha Macarons will last in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.