daring bakers: french macarons
Recipe: green tea adzuki macarons
NaBloWriMo day 27.
World colliding: NaBloWriMo meets the Daring Bakers meets use real butter. Oy.
the daring bakers get stabby
The official line: The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.
The unofficial line: I went with a tried and true recipe from Helen, my macaron expert. Sorry – I didn’t have time for screwing around with an unknown this month. I had a few hours before my flight to California, but I wanted to make some macs to take to my grandma for her birthday. Helen’s recipes never let me down. Never.
i like the matcha very mucha
blend the matcha green tea powder with the confectioner’s sugar
I’ve made green tea matcha macarons with passion fruit buttercream filling before. It is one of my favorite flavor combinations. I thought my grandma would enjoy those.
starting the macaronage
drying the discs of batter
But I needed a new flavor combination for the DB challenge and sweet red bean (adzuki) is a favorite Chinese flavor. I didn’t have a lot of time to experiment, so I used a can of sweetened red bean paste that can be found in most Asian grocery stores and mixed a 1:1 ratio of red bean paste with Swiss meringue buttercream.
sweet red bean paste
sweet red bean paste buttercream
The filling gets a bit of that grainy mouthfeel because of the bean paste, which is fine – but I think I might prefer more bean paste in the mix than buttercream next time. It’s all a matter of personal preference. While I like the red bean version, I think the passion fruit version is still my favorite.
piping the filling
boxing them up for grandma’s birthday
My grandma enjoyed the French macs. She, like me, prefers the matcha-passion fruit pairing. My aunt liked the matcha-red bean paste macs better. Variety is the spice of life. More than anything, it’s lovely to share these goodies with loved ones.
match green tea with red bean and passion fruit fillings (plus fresh passion fruits from todd and diane)
Green Tea and Adzuki Bean Macarons
[print recipe]
adapted from Tartelette
110g blanched almonds
200g powdered sugar
2 tsps matcha (green tea powder)
100g egg whites, aged a day and brought to room temperature
50g sugar
1 cup adzuki Swiss meringue buttercream
Pulse almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Add powdered sugar and matcha powder. Pulse until well-blended. Whip the egg whites until foamy and gradually add the granulated sugar while whipping until a shiny meringue forms (but not too dry). Add the almond mixture to the meringue and quickly incorporate the mixture into the meringue while taking care not to overbeat. You want to achieve a batter that flows and “ribbons” for at least 5 seconds. Pour the batter into a piping bag fitted with a large plain piping tip (Ateco 809 or 807) and pipe small rounds onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The rounds should be about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and at least an inch apart. Let the macarons sit for an hour to develop a hard shell (@8500 ft., this takes about 15 minutes for my arid climate). Preheat oven to 300°F and bake for 8-10 minutes (10 minutes for me). Remove from oven and let cool. Remove from parchment.
adzuki swiss meringue buttercream
1 cup Swiss meringue buttercream frosting
1 cup (250 g) sweet red bean paste (adzuki beans)
Mix together to make adzuki buttercream filling.
swiss meringue buttercream frosting
4 oz. egg whites
8 oz. sugar
8 oz. butter, room temperature
Combine egg whites and sugar in a Kitchenaid mixing bowl. Whisk constantly over a gently simmering hot water bath until 140°F is reached. Remove from heat. Place on mixer with whisk and whip until stiff. Turn down whip speed to 3rd and whip until cool to the touch (this takes a while – should be cooler than your hand). Change to a paddle and gradually add soft butter by tablespoon pieces. Mix to emulsify. Once desired consistency has been reached, add desired flavoring and mix well. Makes about 3 cups.
Assembly: Pipe buttercream onto a macaron and sandwich with a second macaron. Makes about 2 dozen.
October 27th, 2009 at 1:14 am
Great job, Jen. Great flavor combinations. I’m totally impressed with the “feet” you got on yours! I had trouble with that. . .
October 27th, 2009 at 1:28 am
What a great combo of flavors…sounds really interesting and delicious! Love the photos. :)
October 27th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Oh your matcha green tea macs totally rock! Medha thinks so too!
October 27th, 2009 at 2:17 am
wow,…I am amazed by your culinary talents!! They look awesomly delicious!!
MMMMMMM,…
October 27th, 2009 at 3:25 am
Green tea is one of my favourite flavours too. I’ve paired it with red bean before, but haven’t tried passionfruit, which seems like a great idea.
October 27th, 2009 at 3:43 am
I made matcha macaroons too! xxoo
October 27th, 2009 at 6:42 am
I’ve never seen passion fruit before but now that I have, I really have to wonder how one eats it… It looks like a gloopy mess with seed things in it? Do you suck the juice, spit out the seeds…?
October 27th, 2009 at 6:42 am
The whole time I was making my macs, I was thinking I should be making Tartelette’s because I know I have had success. Oh well, experimentation, right?
Meanwhile I love these flavors here. I just love adzuki but I also really love passion fruit and matcha. Goodness, I would love to taste those.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Stunning! Love the flavours too.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Perfect macarons and flavors! Great job, as always!
Cheers,
Rosa
October 27th, 2009 at 7:35 am
These look just perfect and I love the twist on classic Asian flavors. I was actually just thinking about trying this combination in a cake. Great job!
October 27th, 2009 at 7:57 am
I can’t wait for my T&D box to arrive so I can finally sink my teeth into passion fruits! But what I would love to sink my teeth into right this minute is one of each of your macarons! Gorgeous Jen!
October 27th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Very pretty. I’ll master them one day!
October 27th, 2009 at 8:15 am
I went with Tartelette’s recipe too! Such an interesting combination – great job!
October 27th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Very pretty and I love the combination.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:22 am
I love matcha as well. This looks wonderful. Hope I can get up the guts to try it!
October 27th, 2009 at 8:26 am
I was wondering how that combination would work in a macaron! thanks for posting!!
October 27th, 2009 at 9:31 am
I should have gone with Helen’s recipe too. Your Macaroons are beauties.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:55 am
I DIE for these. Like, seriously, I’m totally dead right now and am speaking to you from the afterlife. I would literally punch myself in the nose to have a plate of these cookies right now. I’m making them this weekend, and my ass thanks you.
Love,
The Frugal Hostess
October 27th, 2009 at 10:27 am
oh my, works of art–
October 27th, 2009 at 11:35 am
You are a sneaky sneaky (mean!) woman – tucking those fresh passionfruits from Todd and Diane into that last shot! *hmph* :P But now I know what to do with the can of sweetened red bean paste that I picked up on a whim when shopping for mochiko! Your flavor combo sounds fantastic, and the macarons look perfect!
October 27th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Nice Feet Jen!
I think I’m going to do a do-over of my macarons, because I didn’t get the feet that you got on yours. I was thinking that it maybe had to do with the altitude… but now I’m thinking maybe I just need to dry them, since that wasn’t called for in the original DB recipe.
Love it as always! xo
October 27th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Your macarons look so good. You have a real talent taking each step in photo. :)
October 27th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
i’m sorry to hear about grandma darling jen… i just read it. big hugs! xx
October 27th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
I’m with Sherry…how DO you eat passionfruit? I think I’ve only tasted passionfruit in chocolate, and it tasted very perfumey. Was that an aberration? How would other people describe the flavor? Beautiful macs tho!
October 27th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Mmm sounds delicious! These really do make the best gifts, don’t they?
October 27th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
After all the macs I’ve seen today I’m determined to make them. I like the idea of matcha and passionfruit. When I started blogging the first recipe I ever printed off another blog was Tartelettes macarons. It is the first page of my book of blog recipes to try. One day I will actually make them.
I imagine yours taste as wonderful as they look Jen.
hugsxxoo
October 27th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
so lovely!! someday i will attempt these, but for now i will just admire yours. what an awesome granddaughter you are ;-)
and lucky!!! re: passion fruits. i wish for those.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
[…] Use Real Butter’s Green Tea and Adzuki Bean Macarons […]
October 27th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
wow….the passion fruit looks like an oyster!!! haha! what a great shot! at foodgawker i thought they were oyster macarons!
October 27th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Beautiful
I love the passion fruit ones
and all the rest looks so good!!
October 27th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
As usual, your macarons look perfect! It took me 11 batches to get some good feet! I made some matcha macaroons too. Such a pretty color!
October 27th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Beautiful as usual!
October 27th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
yeah, i think everyone went with you friend’s recipe; the other one was kinda a bust for me.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Perfect macarons and wonderful flavour and colour. Well done they look so good. PAssionfruit yummy. Cheers from Audax in Australia.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Those look amazing! I love macarons but I’m too scared to try to make some because I hear they are so difficult – but you just made it look easy!
October 27th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Jen – you are amazing, you have mad skills in baking, and photography!!!
October 27th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
wow wow
October 27th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
I’ve just bought two tins of matcha powder, definitely giving this a go. I love red beans.. I’m giving the entire recipe a go.. thanks =D
October 27th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
AMAZING!!!
October 27th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
lovely flavour pairing and great photos from start to finish!
October 28th, 2009 at 4:58 am
Wow, what gorgeous macarons and what fantastic flavor combinations!! I gotta see if I can find matcha powder. Have never seen it anywhere yet (but then I haven’t really looked closely… :)
October 28th, 2009 at 5:08 am
Ooh, I love passionfruit but I also really dig adzuki. That sounds so good.
October 28th, 2009 at 7:47 am
so many people used helen’s recipe with gorgeous results! yours look perfect, and it’s lovely that you got to share them with your family!
October 28th, 2009 at 7:59 am
Is it day 27 already?!!? How time flies! I probably would have preferred the passionfruit myself but I quite liked some of the wagashi I ate when I was in the States, so definitely I would have given the adzuki a good shot :)
October 28th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Mmm, the perfect asian dessert flavor combo! Love it.
October 28th, 2009 at 10:58 am
I made green tea macarons too! But I used the challenge recipe, and it definitely didn’t work as well for me as the one I usually use (which it closer to yours and Helene’s). Plus, I added too much green colouring, so my macarons looked kind of toxic (as one of my commenters so eloquently put it). But yours look amazing, nice and plump and smooth!
October 28th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
They look lovely.. I really must search out some macha powder as I’ve never had it and too many wonderful things keep turning up on Daring Bakers and similar using it.
October 28th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Very interesting combo. Beautiful macarons and beautiful photos as always.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:28 am
What a lovely present for your grandma. The flavors are really intriguing.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Gorgeous. Simply flawless! Tremendous job with this challenge – I love your flavours =D.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
This is one of my favorite macaron combinations yet! These are beautiful. Stunning work.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Thanks everyone!
Sherry – you can eat the seeds. Just scoop the pulp out of the foamy shell.
Aran – thank you, sweetie. xxoo
Kristin – well, don’t do what I did and eat it unripe because it is soooooo sour. You want the fruits to start shriveling up (not perfectly round) because that means they are ripe. Cut them open and the inside is pulp in a foamy kind of rind. The juice is tart, but sweet and scented like a perfumy peachy-plum kind of odor. Hard to describe, but it’s bright and fragrant. I love it so much!! :)
Susan @ SGCC – oh dear, I saw all of your trials. Your final macs are great! I had seen so many problems on the forum with the recipe that I knew I had to go with Helen’s recipe.
Valérie – some commenters can be so rude!! :( I’m sure yours tasted terrific.
Esther – I usually get mine in bulk from Whole Foods.
October 29th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Beautiful job! I love your choice in flavors.
Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go
October 29th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I love your macarons and their feets!!
October 31st, 2009 at 4:27 am
I love your honesty and I think if you have a recipe that works then don’t fix it – you were wise enough to go with a tried and tested recipe (Helen’s superb recipe which I use all the time). And I think I would like both red bean psste is excellent but I’m Aussie so passion fruit would be hard to beat. Lovely photos. Cheers from Audax in Australia.
November 5th, 2009 at 11:11 am
The unofficial line was funny! You’re right, Helen’s recipes are always spot on! And so are your macarons ;)
November 11th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
these looks amazing and i just love the flavours you’ve used
April 26th, 2010 at 3:18 am
Great job! I’m a green tea fanatic and always find green tea and azuki red bean a perfect match. =) Yum
April 28th, 2013 at 11:45 am
I made your Green Tea Matcha Macs yesterday. While quite tasty, they were not very pretty. They set up well and then fell. Ugly feet. But I am thinking, could that possibly be because I used gel food coloring? I wanted them to be a bit more green and the gel came out in a blob. I also don’t think the eggwhites were quite as fluffy although they had good peaks. I sure would appreciate your opinion. I have been using your recipes due to my altitude, 5700 feet. Any advice???? Thanks so very much! DeeDee
April 29th, 2013 at 6:46 pm
DeeDee – it’s possible that gel coloring can alter the liquid content. Most folks try to use (the expensive) powder coloring. If you underbeat the whites, I think the shells won’t rise properly. If you overbeat the whites, the shells will crack and dome in the center. Also, you need to be sure to let them sit until the shells are dry to the touch before baking.