Vegan Matcha Macarons filled with Matcha Buttercream! I love green tea macarons! These are some of my favorites!
Course Dessert
Cuisine vegan
Keyword macarons, matcha
Prep Time 2 hourshours
Cook Time 40 minutesminutes
Resting time 40 minutesminutes
Servings 20macarons
Calories 120kcal
Author Camila Hurst
Ingredients
Vegan Macaron Shells
1/3cup reduced aquafaba from 3/4 cup of chickpea brine*70 grams
110 grams almond flour
107 grams powdered sugar
1/2tablespoonmatcha powder3 grams
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
66 grams granulated sugar
Vegan Matcha Buttercream
1/2 cup vegan butter113 grams, 4 oz*
1 cup powdered sugar127 grams, 4.5 oz
1 teaspoon of matcha powder or moreit’s up to how strong you’d like your buttercream to be
Instructions
Vegan Macaron Shells
Start by placing 3/4 cup of chickpea brine (150 grams) (water drained from a chickpea can) in a small saucepan. Let it simmer for 5-10 minutes to reduce to about 1/3 cup (70 grams).
Place it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to let it get thick. It will have egg white consistency.
Gather all of your ingredients before starting to make macarons. Measure out all ingredients. Line two baking sheets with silicon mats. And fit a large piping bag with a round tip. You want everything ready to go when you need it.
Sift almond flour, powdered sugar, and matcha powder together. Set aside.
Place 1/3 cup of the reduced and cooled aquafaba in the bowl of a mixer with the cream of tartar.
Whip for about 1 minute on low, or medium low if the low on your mixer is way too slow. (On my hand mixer I whip on low, but on my KitchenAid I whip on medium low)
At this point, raise speed to medium, and whip for another 2 minutes.
Raise speed to high and start to add granulated sugar, slowly, a bit at a time.
Continue to whip until the aquafaba achieves stiff peaks.
The whole whipping, from beginning to end, should last about 10 minutes, but sometimes it may last longer. Make sure you have obtained stiff peaks, shooting straight up.
Add sifted dry ingredients to whipped aquafaba. Start folding with a spatula slowly.
Add food coloring at this point, if using any.
Fold forming a letter J with the spatula.
Fold until the batter is flowing slightly. You don’t want the batter to be flowing continuously off the spatula. When it comes to vegan macarons, the folding time is very very brief. You are basically just looking to incorporate the dry ingredients with the meringue. Please watch the video to see what the consistency should look like. If you grab a spatula full of batter and hold it over the bowl, it should still be separating in chunks, and not flowing continuously on a ribbon. Do not get to the ribbons stage! If you get to the ribbon stage, the macaron feet will spread out in the oven.
Transfer batter to the piping bag.
Pipe 1 1/2” circles on a baking sheet lined with silicone mat. I usually use 2 sheets. This will depend on how big you pipe your macarons.
Slam the trays against the counter to release air bubbles.
Use a toothpick to pop any remaining bubbles.
Let trays rest for 30-45 minutes until the shells are dry. Test this by touching a macaron gently with your finger. Depending on humidity levels and weather, it might take longer or less time for your macarons to dry.
Pre-heat oven to 310F.**
Bake each tray separately.
Bake for a total of 20 minutes, or until the macarons are easily coming off the silicon mat.
Remember to rotate the tray every 5 minutes, to ensure even baking.
Baking time might vary depending on your oven.
Let macarons cool down before filling.
Vegan Matcha Buttercream
Cream the butter for 30 seconds.
Sift powdered sugar and matcha powder. Add to the butter. Cream until creamy.
If the mixture is too stiff, add a teaspoon of non-dairy milk to adjust the consistency.
And if the buttercream is too runny, add a bit more sifted powdered sugar until you obtain the perfect consistency, which should be creamy, fluffy, and smooth.
To assemble
Place Vegan Matcha Buttercream in a piping bag fitted with the tip of choice. Pipe some buttercream in half of the shells. Top with another shell. Let the macarons mature in the fridge for 1 day before serving.
Storage
Store the macarons in the fridge for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Notes
Temperature: I recommend testing the temperature. It will vary a lot according to your oven, your batch, the humidity. My last couple of batches, I had to turn the temperature down to 280ºF because the macarons were cracking. I used to bake them at a very low temperature before (215ºF) but sometimes, that would result in lopsided macarons. To learn how to test the temperature, check out the post above. If you adjust the baking temperature, you also have to adjust the baking time.Aquafaba is the water you obtain from cooking chickpeas (or other legumes). The aquafaba I use is water drained from a chickpea can. I prefer low or no sodium chickpea water, mainly because of the taste, I feel like the salted chickpea water adds a weird taste to meringues and such. Some people like to boil their own chickpeas to obtain the aquafaba, and you can do that, but make sure to study what are the best ratios water:chickpeas so your aquafaba is concentrated enoughAquafaba: I used to reduce the aquafaba before. But lately, I haven’t been reducing it anymore, and it works just fine. If you do want to reduce the aquafaba, place 150 grams of aquafaba in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, simmer until it reduces to about half. I recommend using the aquafaba straight from the chickpea can.Macaronage: Do not let the batter reach ribbon stage. If it reaches ribbon stage it will be over mixed, the batter is supposed to be thick. Watch my videos on YouTube to see what it should look like.Thick batter: If the batter is too thick while mixing, add a teaspoon of aquafaba as you mix, until you obtain the perfect consistency.Troubleshooting: if your macarons are exploding, flattening out, with the feet spreading to the sides, that can mean a few things:1- hot oven (make sure to have oven thermometer and experiment with the optimal oven temperature for your oven).2- over mixed batter. It's really easy to over mix vegan macaron batter. Mix it just until it starts to flow. Watch the videos on my youtube channel for reference.3- under whipped meringue: make sure the meringue has really stiff peaks. It can take some time. Just be patient.