Macaron de Paris with matcha and yuzu

Ingredients

For the macarons

• 300 g slivered almonds
• 300 g powdered sugar
• 220 g egg whites
• 5 g matcha powder
• 300 g granulated sugar
• 75 ml water

For the ganache

• 175 g whipping cream
• 25 g honey
• 10 g matcha powder
• 275 g white chocolate
• zest of 1 yuzu (or lemon)

Preparation

1. For the ganache, heat the whipping cream and honey in a saucepan to 50 °C. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the matcha powder, and let it steep for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan with a small amount of boiling water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Fold the warm cream into the melted chocolate in five batches using a spatula. Place the hand blender into the ganache and blend until the ganache is glossy and smooth. Stir in the yuzu zest, cover the bowl, and let it set in the refrigerator overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 115 °C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. For the macarons, grind the almond meal in a food processor until coarsely powdered. Add the powdered sugar and grind until very fine, but be careful not to make it sticky. Spoon the mixture into a bowl and spatula in 110 grams of egg whites and the matcha powder.
4. Mix the granulated sugar and water in a saucepan and heat to 118 °C. When the sugar syrup reaches 115 °C, beat the remaining egg whites in the stand mixer with whisk until stiff peaks form on high speed. Reduce the speed to medium-high and, when it reaches 118 °C, pour in the sugar syrup in a thin stream. Beat the meringue until firm and around 50 °C.
5. Fold one-third of the meringue into the almond mixture. Then spatula in the rest of the meringue and keep mixing until the batter runs off your spatula in a ribbon. Scoop the batter into the piping bag and pipe about 100 dollops onto the baking sheets. Slide the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Then open the oven door briefly and bake for another 10 minutes. Then open the oven door again and bake for another 10 minutes, or until the tops of the macarons feel dry to the touch. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and let cool.
6. Make sets of two macarons that are the same size. Stir the ganache well and scoop into a piping bag without a nozzle. Cut a small tip of the piping bag. Pipe some ganache onto one macaron and push the other macaron on top, until the ganache is pushed out to the edge. Store the macarons covered in the refrigerator, preferably overnight before eating them.