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Earl Grey Macarons

Bridgerton Blue macaron shells, drizzled with white chocolate and sprinkled with Earl Grey tea leaves, are filled with an Earl Grey-infused cream filling to make the perfect, fancy treat for parties, afternoon teas and watching Bridgerton!
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword Earl Grey, Italian macarons, macaron, White Chocolate
Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 11 minutes
Chill Time 2 hours
Total Time 4 hours 11 minutes
Servings 24 macarons

Equipment

  • 1 small(ish), round piping nozzle
  • 1 medium, open-star piping nozzle
  • 2 piping bags

Ingredients

For the macaron shells:

  • 95 g ground almonds
  • 103 g icing sugar
  • 72 g egg whites, split into two equal portions (2x36g).
  • 95 g caster sugar
  • 30 ml water
  • Blue water-based gel food colouring (see Note 1).

For the Earl Grey cream filling:

  • 150 ml double cream
  • 1 1/2 tbsp loose leaf Earl Grey tea
  • 2 1/2 tsp cornflour
  • 75 g caster sugar
  • 25 g white chocolate, finely chopped.
  • 35 g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature.

To decorate:

  • 40 g white chocolate, melted.
  • Loose leaf Earl Grey tea

Instructions

Make the macaron shells:

  • Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Fit a piping bag with a small(ish), round nozzle (mine was 6mm in diameter) and set aside.
  • Place the ground almonds and icing sugar into a food processor. Pulse 10 times, then sift into a large bowl, discarding any large lumps. Repeat this process once more, so that you are left with a very fine powder.
  • Add one of the 36g portions of egg white to the almond/icing sugar mixture, along with about 15 drops of blue food colouring. Mix well to form a paste with an even, dark blue colour, then set aside. If needed, add more food colouring to achieve desired shade.
  • Place the remaining 36g of egg white into the clean (see Note 2), metal bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Leave aside while you make the sugar syrup.
  • Place the caster sugar into a small saucepan with the 30ml of water. Place over a medium heat and bring to a boil. Do not stir- swirl gently if necessary. Allow the syrup to continue bubbling, while monitoring the temperature with a digital sugar thermometer.
  • When the syrup has reached 114°C, turn the stand mixer to high speed and begin to whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Keep the syrup over the heat.
  • Once the sugar syrup reaches 118°C, the egg whites should have reached soft peaks. With the mixer still running on high speed, carefully pour the syrup down the side of the bowl in a slow, steady stream. Once all of the syrup has been added, turn the mixer up to full speed and beat for 5 minutes, or until stiff peaks are achieved and the metal bowl has come to room temperature.
  • When the meringue is ready, add 1/3 of it to the blue almond mixture. Mix vigorously to combine the two mixtures and loosen the thick paste.
  • Add the rest of the meringue and fold it in, using a figure of eight motion, until the mixture is cohesive and comes off the spatula in ribbons- if you leave those ribbons for 30 seconds they should level themselves out into the rest of the mixture.
  • Transfer the macaron batter to the prepared piping bag. Holding the bag vertically to the baking tray, pipe macarons about 2.5cm in diameter.
  • Once the macarons are piped, lift the whole tray and drop it down onto the work surface a few times to bring any air bubbles to the surface. Use a sharp knife/cocktail stick to burst any remaining bubbles, letting the mixture fall back on itself.
  • Set the macarons aside at room temperature to form a skin- on a relatively dry day, this should take about 30-40 minutes, but can take less time on drier, warmer days and more time on cold, humid days. Check on the macarons every 10-15 minutes or so, if unsure. The macarons will be ready when you can gently touch their surfaces without any batter coming off on your finger.
  • When the macarons are almost ready, preheat the oven to 165°C fan. When the macarons are ready and the oven is hot, bake the macarons in the centre of the oven, one tray at a time, for 11 minutes. To check if they are done, place a finger on top of the shells and wiggle gently. When done, the tops of the macarons should not wobble. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the tray before decorating/filling.

Make the Earl Grey cream filling:

  • Place the cream into a small saucepan over medium-low heat and bring to just below a simmer. Add the Earl Grey tea, stir to combine, then cover and set aside to infuse at room temperature for 15 minutes.
  • After 15 minutes strain the cream through a fine mesh sieve to remove the tea, pressing it to extract even more flavour.
  • Gradually mix 1-2 tbsp of the cream into the cornflour, until it forms a smooth, creamy paste. Set aside.
  • Return the cream to the saucepan and add the sugar. Heat on medium-low, stirring frequently, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture comes to just below a simmer again.
  • With the pan still on the heat, whisk in the cornflour mixture until it is completely incorporated. Turn the heat down to low and keep cooking the mixture, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes, until it becomes thick and glossy.
  • Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add a small amount of the finely chopped white chocolate. Stir to combine and, once that chocolate has melted into the mixture, add a little more. Repeat this process until all of the chocolate has been incorporated.
  • Pour the mixture into the bowl of a food processor and add a cube of the diced butter. Pulse until the butter has been completely incorporated, then add another cube and repeat. Keep going until all of the butter has been incorporated.
  • Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and cover the surface directly with clingfilm. Chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours, until firm and pipeable. If left for too long, the mixture will become stiff and hard to pipe. If needed, gently reheat the mixture to bring it back down to the right consistency.

Decorate the macaron shells:

  • While the filling is chilling, decorate the macaron shells. Pair up the macarons, matching them as well as possible in terms of size/shape.
  • Drizzle one side of half of the shells (one from each pair) with white chocolate. I used a spoon to do this, but you can use a piping bag with the tip snipped off, if you prefer.
  • While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle with Earl Grey tea leaves, crushing the leaves between your fingers as you sprinkle them. Allow the shells to sit at room temperature until the chocolate has set, before assembling.

Assemble the macarons:

  • Transfer the filling to a piping bag, fitted with a medium, open-star tip, ready to fill the macarons.
  • Pipe a rosette of filling onto the underside of each of the undecorated macarons. Press the decorated macaron shells on top, sandwiching the filling in the middle and serve. The filled macarons can sit at room temperature for several hours, but any longer and they should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge, where they will keep for a couple of days.

Notes

  1. You must use a water-based, gel food colouring when making macarons. I like Colour Mill's Aqua Blend range. For these macarons, I used the shade Denim. 
  2. To clean the bowl and the whisk for meringue, rub a small amount of white wine vinegar over both using a piece of kitchen roll. This will remove any traces of fat/residue that might prevent your meringue from whipping up properly.