These Earl Grey Macarons are filled with a creamy and rich Earl Grey Custard, and Earl Grey Buttercream. In these macarons you will find lovely floral and sweet notes. Tea time has never looked better!
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword macarons
Prep Time 2 hourshours
Cook Time 40 minutesminutes
Servings 22macarons
Calories 130kcal
Author Camila Hurst
Ingredients
Macaron Shells
100gramsegg whites 3.5 oz
100gramsgranulated sugar 3.5 oz
105gramsalmond flour 3.7 oz
105gramspowdered sugar 3.7 oz
Food coloringI used a touch of purple
Earl Grey Custard
1/2cupplus 2 tbsp milk150 ml
1tspearl grey leavesor 1 to 2 earl grey tea sachet*
3tbspgranulated sugar37 grams
1large egg yolk
1tbspcornstarch8 grams
1tspunsalted butter5 grams
Earl Grey Buttercream
1 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar sifted
4 tbsp unsalted butter softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2tbspinfused Earl Grey milk**
Instructions
Macaron Shells
Before you start, get all of your ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip. Set aside.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
I use a baking mat with the macaron template already in it. You can make your own or print it from the internet, and just place it under silicone mat, or parchment paper. I recommend using a silicone mat.
Measure out all of your ingredients.
Sift powdered sugar and almond flour together. Set aside.
Place egg whites and granulated sugar in a heat proof bowl or in a double boiler. Over a pan of simmering water, whisk the whites and sugar until frothy and sugar completely melted. It will take a couple minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking mixture over the water bath.
Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water.
Transfer mixture 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 mixture is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise speed to high 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 form a bird’s beak shape, but shouldn’t be falling to the side, the peak should be stiff, forming a slightly curved shape at the top.
Pour sifted powdered sugar and almond flour into stiff whites.
Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
Add the food coloring at this point, if using.
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, and you might have a couple failed batches before you get this right.
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, I pick up some batter with my 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 a bit, I start folding 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, transfer it to the piping bag.
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.
The best way I can describe this stage being perfect is when you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
Place the piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template. Apply equal 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 your 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 300°F.
Bake one tray at a time.
Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
I bake each tray for about 18 minutes 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.
Earl Grey Custard
Place the milk in a small saucepan, and bring the mixture almost to a boil, over medium heat.
Remove the milk from the heat and add the earl grey tea leaves, or tea sachet to the milk. Let the tea infuse for 10 minutes with the milk. Discard the tea leaves or sachet.
Remove 2 tbsp of the infused milk and set aside to use in the buttercream later on.
To the remaining 1/2 cup of infused milk, add 2 tbsp of sugar, and place it back in the heat. As soon as the sugar dissolves, remove the mixture from the heat. Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk the yolk, the remaining 1 tbsp of sugar, and the cornstarch together until the mixture is lightened in color.
Slowly add just a couple of tablespoons of the hot milk and sugar mixture to the yolk, while whisking.
This is called tempering the eggs, and it’s done so that the eggs won’t cook as you add the hot liquid to it, which is why we add only a little bit at a time. Once the first bit of milk has been whisked with the eggs, add a bit more, and do this until all the milk has been added to the yolk. Return the mixture to the saucepan, through a fine mesh sieve, so any bits of cooked egg will be left out. Place the pan over medium heat and begin to stir with a spatula or wooden spatula. Stir the mixture vigorously while cooking.
Don’t stop stirring at any point, or the eggs will cook on the bottom of the pan.
Cook the cream for a few minutes. First it will start to look lumpy, and slowly, as you keep stirring, it will thicken and smooth out, becoming a rich and silky custard.
When that happens, remove from the heat immediately, stir the butter in, and transfer the cream to a small bowl. Cover it with a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the cream, so it doesn’t form a skin as it cools down. Place the cream in the fridge for a couple of hours until completely chilled.
Earl Grey Buttercream
Start by sifting the powdered sugar, and set it aside.
Now, cream the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
With the mixer off, add the powdered sugar to the bowl.
Turn the mixer on low to incorporate the powdered sugar with the butter.
Once you see no streaks of dry powdered sugar, cream mixture on medium high for one minute.
Add vanilla extract and milk. Mix to combine.
If the buttercream is too runny, add a bit more sifted powdered sugar in. If the buttercream is too stiff, add a bit more milk, by the teaspoon, until you achieve the desired consistency, which should be firm, but not stiff, and should also be creamy and smooth.
This frosting will store well in the fridge for up to 5 days, covered.
Make sure to always leave your frosting covered. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap, because otherwise, the surface will dry out and get hard. To decorate the macarons, I drizzled some white chocolate and sprinkled some crunched Earl Grey Tea leaves on top.
To assemble
To assemble the macarons, pipe a ring of Earl Grey Buttercream around the edges of a bottom shell. Fill it with a bit of Earl Grey Custard. Top with another shell.
Storage
These macarons will store in the fridge for up to 4 days. They will also freeze well for up to 1 month.
Notes
*Feel free to add more Earl Grey to the infused milk, if you would like a more pronounced Earl Grey flavor, you can even double the amount indicated in the recipe.**When making the Earl Grey Custard, I add a bit more milk before I infuse it with the tea, this way, I will have some Earl Grey infused milk to use in the buttercream frosting, enhancing the Earl Grey flavor in the filling.*** I usually don’t freeze macarons with jam, curd, or custard filling, however, we are adding enough cornstarch to make this custard very thick, which will help in keeping the macarons from getting soggy.****This is the container I use to store my macarons in the fridge or freezer.