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These earl grey macarons are made with a white chocolate ganache filling infused with early grey tea for a delicious macaron perfect accompaniment to tea!
Earl Grey is my go-to tea! Growing up in a South Asian household, I grew up drinking a lot of black tea. Specifically, my parents are partial to Tetley’s Orange Pekoe these days. I didn’t participate in that daily tea drinking ritual when I was younger.
Then, as I ventured into adulthood, I found that I needed caffeine too. Coffee in the morning, and usually a cup of tea in the afternoon. I even had a tea collection in my desk drawer at work. One tea that was always stocked in there was Earl Grey tea. This quintessential black tea, with a little bergamot for a hint of citrus, made a calming beverage right when I needed it!
So of course, when it comes to flavoring with baked goods you’ll find a lot of tea and coffee-infused desserts, like mocha cupcakes, masala chai macarons, and these espresso chocolate chip cookies!
If you’re looking for more macarons flavors, some of my favorites to date are:
- Ras Malai Macarons
- Rose Macarons
- Masala Chai Macarons / Tea Latte Macarons
- Hot Chocolate Macarons
- Chocolate Ganache Macarons
And if you’re still perfecting your macaron technique, here are some tips to help you get here! Or find ways to decorate your macarons here!
Tools & Ingredients for Earl Grey Macarons
For these Earl Grey Macarons you’ll need a few tools and ingredients. These are some of my favorites:
- Almond Flour – I’m currently using Kirkland Almond Flour, which I usually get from Amazon.
- Digital Kitchen Scale and Oven Thermometer – Macarons can be finicky; I highly recommend these two tools for the precision and accuracy required in making macarons.
- Piping Tip like the Wilton #12 – This is the preferred piping tip that I attach to a piping bag.
- Gel Food Color – Gel-based colors are the best for macarons, so they don’t add too much moisture to the meringue. For these earl grey macarons, I used a couple of drops of purple by Chefmaster.
- Earl Grey Tea and White Chocolate – these combine together to make a delicious filling for these macarons.
- Silicone Mats – I prefer silicone baking mats, but you can also use parchment paper.
How to make Earl Grey Macarons
STEP #1: Macaron Shells
These macarons use my basic macaron shell recipe, which I’ve used in several macaron recipes like these Froot Loops Macarons or these Masala Chai Macarons. I use a French meringue-based macaron recipe!
I highly recommend that you weigh the ingredients for the macaron shells to be as precise as possible. I use this scale for accuracy, but any kitchen scale will work. If you’d like more tips on macarons, check out this post on Macaron Tips!
Combine the dry ingredients:
Start by sifting the almond flour and icing/powdered sugar together a few times to remove clumps. It helps with making sure that the final shells are as smooth as possible.
I typically sift the almond flour and icing sugar at least twice to ensure that no clumps remain. This makes for smooth macaron shells! This is the sieve that I use to make sure no clumps remain!
Make the meringue:
Next, make the meringue by beating egg whites, granulated sugar, and a pinch of cream of tartar.
You can do this part on a stand mixer or a hand mixer. For smaller batches of macarons, I prefer to use my Kitchenaid hand mixer.
Macaronage
Once your meringue has reached stiff peaks, add all the dry ingredients (almond flour and icing sugar mixture) into the meringue (egg white mixture) and start the macaronage (folding process).
Stop folding when the batter flows off the spatula in a ribbon.
Pipe onto Baking Tray:
Once you’re satisfied with the batter, it’s time to pipe it on the tray.
Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. I like using these silicone baking mats with the circle templates drawn on. But you can experiment with parchment paper as well!
Transfer your batter to a piping bag, fitted with a round tip. I like to use this Wilton #12 round decorating tip.
Pipe into circles using following the template on the silicone baking mats. Use a toothpick or cookie scribe to adjust any of the shapes.
Rest, then Bake
Rest the batter until it is no longer tacky to the touch. It takes about 30 minutes in my kitchen. Once the shells have rested, bake them in a pre-heated oven at 300ºF.
STEP #2: Earl Grey White Chocolate Ganache Filling
For the filling, I made an earl grey white chocolate ganache. The ganache recipe below is water-based, but you can easily swap out water for cream, and infuse the cream instead.
- Tea Concentrate: Add 1/4 cup of boiling water to a cup along with 1-2 tea bags of earl grey tea, or 1 tablespoon of loose leaf tea. Set aside for at least 10 minutes, remove the tea.
- Melt the white chocolate in the microwave, heating them in 30-second intervals stirring between each. It took 1 minute. in my microwave.
- Whisk the tea into the white chocolate until smooth. It will look gloopy at first but will come together in a few minutes.
- Store in the fridge to cool/harden a little for about 2 hours.
- Whip the ganache to make it light and fluffy or use it as is.
STEP #3: Decorate, Fill, and Mature
- Fill the macarons: Pipe the frosting onto half the cookies, and sandwich them together.
- Decorate: To decorate, melt 2 tablespoons of white chocolate chips. Transfer the melted chocolate to a Ziploc bag or pastry bag and drizzle onto the macaron shells. Add your favorite sprinkles while the chocolate is still wet.
- Mature: Macarons taste best when they’ve had some time to rest and mature in the fridge. So you can easily make these earl grey macarons ahead of time!
Tips for Earl Grey Macarons
- The recipe below for the Earl Grey macarons makes 24 macarons. It can easily be halved or doubled for the number of macarons that you need. (I would recommend making more!)
Macaron Shells
- Make sure to weigh the ingredients with a scale. This is the scale I have, and it has really helped me make better macarons!
- Your oven needs to be at the correct temperature when baking macarons! I can’t imagine baking macarons anymore without this oven thermometer.
- I typically rest my macarons for about 30 minutes, until they are no longer tacky on the top.
- Make sure to cool the macaron shells completely before peeling them off the tray and filling them.
For the Earl Grey White Chocolate Ganache Filling:
- Adjust the amount of tea and steeping time to your preferences. The longer you steep the more concentrated the flavor will be.
- A little tea goes a long way, start with a little add more as you prefer.
- Typically ganache is made with cream, but in this case, I found that the flavor of the tea was better with a water-based tea concentrate.
Decorating and Filling:
- If using sprinkles, make sure to do it while the chocolate has not yet been set.
- Once you have finished decorating, make sure to allow enough time for the chocolate drizzle to set completely before handling them.
- Let the macarons mature for at least 4 hours overnight if possible for the best flavor.
Follow me on Instagram @sprinklesandscribbles for more baking inspiration!
Earl Grey Macarons
Equipment
- Measuring scale
- Sifter
- Oven thermometer
- Stand mixer or Hand mixer
- Pastry bag
- #12 round tip (optional)
- 2 aluminum baking sheets with silicone mats or Silpat
Ingredients
Macaron shells
- 135 grams almond flour
- 125 grams icing sugar
- 100 grams egg whites About 3 large egg whites
- 88 grams granulated sugar
- pinch cream of tartar
Earl Grey White Chocolate Ganache
- 2/3 cup white chocolate 100 grams
- 1/4 cup water 30 grams
- 2 bags of earl grey tea
- Decorate optional
- 2 tablespoons white chocolate melted
- Sprinkles
Instructions
Macarons Shells
- Pre-heat oven to 300ºF.
- Separate the eggs from the egg whites (if using fresh eggs). Measure out 100 g (about 3 large eggs).
- In a separate bowl, sift the icing sugar and almond flour together
- Repeat the sifting process to ensure there are no clumps. If there are any clumps, discard them.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the egg whites and a pinch cream of tartar. Beat on high until foamy.
- Once the egg whites are foamy, turn the mixer down to the lowest setting possible, and slowly add in the granulated sugar. Be sure to incorporate all the sugar into the egg whites.
- Turn up the mixer again on high, and keep beating egg whites until peaks form. DO NOT OVER BEAT.
- Once done, pour all the almond flour and icing sugar mixture into the egg whites.
- With a rubber spatula, fold the dry mixture into the egg whites, until the paste flows like a ribbon.
- Prepare a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat with a macaron template.
- Fit a pastry bag with a #12 round tip, if using, and trim the bottom as appropriate.
- Pour batter into the bag.
- Pipe circles onto the prepared baking sheet. You should get about 40-60 circles
- Once piped, rap the sheet on the counter to release all the air bubbles. Use a cookie scribe or toothpick to remove any smaller bubbles.
- Rest for 30 minutes, until the shells have formed a skin, and are no longer tacky to the touch.
- Bake in the oven, at 300°F for 12-13 minutes.
- Check for doneness, by wiggling the shell. Shells are done when they don’t move from the feet. If it wiggles from the feet, then bake for another minute, and check again.
- Cool the shells in the tray.
Earl Grey White Chcoolate Ganache Filling
- Add 1/4 cup of boiling water to a cup along with 1-2 tea bags of earl grey tea, or 1 tablespoon of loose leaf tea.
- Set aside for at least 10 minutes, remove the tea.
- Melt the white chocolate in the microwave, heating it in 30 second intervals stirring between each. It took 1 minute in my microwave.
- Whisk the tea into in the white chocolate until smooth. It will look gloopy at first, but will come together in a few minutes.
- Store in the fridge to cool/harden a little for about 2 hours.
- Whip the ganache to make it light and fluffy or use as is.
Assembly & Decorate
- Once cool, remove macaron shells from the baking tray and pair similar-sized shells together to form the cookie sandwiches.
- Pipe in about 1-2 teaspoons of earl grey white chocolate filling onto half the shells.
- Carefully sandwich the cookie with its pair. Repeat to assemble all the cookies
- To decorate, melt 2 tablespoons of white chocolate chips, and transfer to a pastry bag or ziploc bag.
- Drizzle over the top of the macarons, then add sprinkles, while the chocolate is still wet.
- Macarons taste best when they've rested in the fridge for a day. Once all the cookies are assembled, store the macarons in the fridge for at least 24 hours to mature. Remove from fridge 20 minutes before serving.
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