Earl grey macaron

Recipe

Shell

• Earl grey macarons - Kitchen 335

^ Coloured with 2 drops of purple gel food colouring.

Filling

• Earl grey ganache - The baker's almanac

^ Added 2 tablespoons of butter

How it turned out

Very good! I will definitely be making these again.

When eaten straight from the fridge, the filling gives the macaron a chewy texture, which I quite like. And while the ganache doesn't retain a strong earl grey flavour, the shells pack enough of a punch to bring the tea forward.

What I learned

Ganache needs a bit of butter. I made the ganache a few days in advance, following the recipe exactly. I noticed when it cooled, it didn't have a very spreadable consistency. I researched other ganache recipes and learned that many incorporate butter. So when I was ready to fill the macarons, I heated the ganache up over a bain-marie and mixed in 2 tablespoons of butter. Once it was cooled to room temperature, it was the perfect consistency for piping.

Ganache can be overpowering. I had an odd number of shells, so I sampled an "opened-faced" macaron - just a dallop of ganache on top of one shell. It was far too chocolatey. I realized that ganache is incredibly rich. So I filled the rest of the shells with less ganache than I would have if it was buttercream. That, combined with the second shell, created a lovely balance of the earl grey and chocolate flavours.