Snowflake Earl Grey & Matcha White Chocolate Macaron Pops

Here's a simple macaron bake for dear Susanne's elder daughter's teachers :). Tea flavoured snowflake macaron pops! Melted white chocolate was used as the base filling so these macarons do not need refrigeration. Perfect as gifts in hot and humid Singapore :).

I almost decided on Anna and Elsa brown sugar cookies for the little girl's Frozen themed birthday party in school. Thankfully I changed to these! Much easier on my eyes.

Since only 4 macarons were requested by Susanne, I baked the plain round shells with my Totoro macaron bake and froze them. Macaron shells freeze very well. Simply store them in layers between baking sheets in an airtight container. Thaw at room temperature before opening the box to work on decorating the shells.

I made snowflake templates out of clear plastic files and used blue edible marker to carefully trace out the pattern by dotting the surface. Be very careful not to apply too much pressure or shift the template as the ink will smudge! Clean the template with paper towel after tracing each snowflake.

Use medium stiff royal icing and a small tip like Wilton 1S to pipe out the patterns. I added icing sugar to my standard royal icing recipe until I get the right consistency. Any peaks should disappear in about 20 seconds. Use a toothpick to nudge the icing where necessary. Any excess icing can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container and with clingwrap touching the icing surface.

Air dry the shells. The icing dries pretty quickly so you may just leave it out while you prepare the filling.

Tea flavoured white chocolate (Fills about 8-9 macarons)*
Ingredients:
50g melted white chocolate (I used Meiji)
1/2 tsp Matcha (green tea) powder
1/2-1 tsp Earl Grey powder

*You may adjust the amount of tea powder used according to taste. Note that the macaron shells are sweet and plain flavoured so you may want a stronger tea flavour in the filling.

Steps:
1. Finely chop the white chocolate and melt it in the microwave oven at medium power with short bursts of 10seconds, stirring well after each round of heating. You may use the double boiling method to melt the white chocolate too.

2. Divide the white chocolate into two equal portions. Add sifted tea powder to each portion and mix well.

Transfer the melted chocolate into piping bags with the end snipped off. Pipe the chocolate onto the bottom shells. Place an ice-cream stick on and top up with a bit more chocolate. Cover with the top shell.

Wait for the chocolate to set. You may wish to place the macarons in the fridge for 10 minutes to speed up the process but it's not absolutely necessary.

Wrap up these dainty confectionary or store in airtight container. Store at a cool and dry place.

All wrapped up!

Blessed birthday Tintin!

With lots of love,
Aunty Phay Shing

Macaron pops make elegant Teacher's Day gifts too! Stay tuned for more macaron pops in about a month's time!