JasmineRichelleBakes: Thai Tea Macarons For The Win!

I purchased a giant bag of Thai tea and I was thinking of different ways of using it and decided on making of course macarons. To be honest these macarons gave me a bit of trouble today. If you read my macaron posts I had been using the Italian method of making my meringue but for some reason when I added in the tea my batter was so runny that when I piped the macarons on my new silpat they just ran and merged together. I know I didn't overmix my batter, but I don't know if the tea was doing anything or the food coloring ( I only use gel) they were just crappy today. I managed to save 7 pair out of the whole batch. I ate dinner and decided to start over and use the french method and they ended up turning out better. I also did not dust the shells with additional thai tea. I just incorporated some in the batter. As far as the filling I made a condensed milk butter cream. I wanted to mimic that sweet cream taste of a thai tea. It's a good contrast from the bitter taste of the tea. When you take a bite all together it does resemble sipping a glass of thai tea. My only regret is that with the second batch I used a little less thai tea ( I should have dusted the shells, but people said it was too bitter). I like the taste of the bitter tea on top of the sweet macaron shell. It reminded me when I placed the espresso powder on top of my dulce de leche macarons. I think the bitterness goes with the sweet. Well the macarons were pretty and they did not take as long to make because I didn't have to make multiple fillings just one this time.

Thai Tea Macarons

So for the macarons above I used the french method so you won't need a candy thermometer, you can do this all with a whisk.

Thai Tea Macaron Shells

60g of almond flour
120g of powdered sugar
60g (or two large eggs) of egg whites (room temperature)
35g of granulated sugar
2 teaspoons of thai tea
orange gel food coloring
sprinkles (optional)

Condensed milk buttercream

1 stick (1/2 cup) of softened unsalted butter
1 cup of powdered sugar
1/4 cup of condensed milk

First start by taking your almond flour and powdered sugar and run that through a fine sieve. Whisk to combine.

All mixed together

Next take your egg whites and whisk on a low speed until egg whites are nice and foamy

Add in your granulated sugar and turn your mixer up to medium speed for about 2 minutes

Once you reach soft/medium peaks add in your gel food coloring ( I used a few drops of a warm peach color)

Now mix on high speed and stop when you achieve stiff peaks

nice stiff peak

Take your dry mixture and pour it into your meringue

start folding the mixture together with your spatula and stop when your batter reaches a ribbon stage (when it flows off of your spatula like lava) pay attention to not overmix or undermix your batter because your macarons will be ruined.

This is where I added in a few teaspoons of thai tea (first I put a few spoons in my spice grinder and then sifted that until I got a fine powder) you don't want lumps in your macaron batter

ground thai tea

It smells so good.

Mix that gently just to combine.

Place your batter in a piping bag with a round tip attached. Pipe 1.5 inch circles on to a parchment paper lined sheet pan. ( I normally use parchment paper, but I splurged on a silpat mat so I'm checking the difference here) leave some space in between the cookies so they don't merge together

macarons waiting to bake

Don't forget to tap your tray on the counter a few times to release any trapped air bubbles. I added little white sprinkles on top just for something extra.

Leave your tray of macarons on the table to rest and develop a skin for atleast 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 300F.

You can check if your macarons are ready to bake my gently tapping one and if your finger has no batter on it you can place them in the oven.

after about 30 minutes

Bake these for about 16-20 minutes rotate your pan halfway through the baking process. ( I bake mine for 8 minutes then I rotate the pan and bake another 9 minutes)

Take your macarons out and let them completely cool before peeling them off of the silpat. If you are using parchment paper I like to take the macarons off of the cookie sheet (but still on parchment and place them on the counter to cool) you don't want them to over bake on the cookie sheet.

baked to perfection

When the macarons are done they should slide off the parchment or silpat pretty easy with a smooth bottom.

Now you need to pair them off and get them ready to be filled

matching shells is always fun

matching shells

look at those cute sprinkles

ready to fill

For the filling

Take your stick of room temperature butter and beat with a hand mixer for about 5 minutes. The butter will turn a pale yellow color and become light and fluffy.

beat the butter till it's light and airy

Next add in your powdered sugar and continue to mix.

you should probably turn the speed down at this point

whisk in your condensed milk

I just eyeballed the condensed milk part, you should probably go a tablespoon at a time

then with your hand mixer blend on high until everything is combined ( your filling shouldn't be loose, it should be pretty stiff and able to pipe, yet smooth and silky)

this buttercream is so silky and delicious

Place in a piping bag and get ready to fill your macarons

so beautiful

Now place a dollop of your filling in the center of one half of your macarons

the perfect amount of buttercream ya'll

just sandwich them together

so fluffy

Ready for the fridge

There you have it the thai tea macarons

Pretty Thai Tea Macarons

Place these in an airtight container in the fridge to mature for about 24 hours and then bring them to room temperature when you are ready to eat them. Also macarons do great in the freezer for some other time up to 3 months.