Chai Latte Macarons

My chai spice macaron recipe will warm your heart this sweater season. Smooth chocolate chai ganache sandwiched between two vanilla macaron shells infused with chai tea, these macarons are anything but boring. They’re full of flavor and charisma. In fact, they taste delicious.

These chai macarons taste like a warm hug on a chilly fall afternoon. The macaron cookies are made using the French method and are full of flavor. This is thanks to the Chai tea that is infused into the dry ingredients before they are mixed into the meringue.

The chocolate chai ganache adds another dimension to these macarons. The ganache is made by infusing chai into warm milk before stirring it into melted chocolate. The end result is a creamy ganache that is easy to pipe onto macaron cookies and compliments the sweet chai spices.

Ganache is such an easy mess free filling for macarons. Macaron cookies themselves do take a bit of time. So filling them with ganache means that at least this one step is pretty straight forward.

Tools you’ll need

There are a couple of kitchen tools you’ll need to make macarons of any flavor. To make these chai French macarons, you’ll need the following tools:

  • Electric Mixer
  • Food Processor
  • Bowls
  • Spatulas
  • Kitchen Scales
  • Fine Sieve
  • Piping Bags and Nozzles
  • Baking Tray
  • Parchment Paper
  • Toothpicks
  • Macaron template (optional, but recommended).

A quick note in regards to the electric mixer, you don’t need an expensive stand mixer for this recipe. When making French macarons, a cheap hand held electric mixer will do the job just fine.

Ingredients

You’ll need the following ingredients to make chai tea macarons:

  • Chai Tea: This is the key flavor profile in these macarons. So choose the brand of chai you like most. 
  • Almond Flour: Look for a of almond flour that is finely ground. Be aware that Almond Meal is not a good substitute.
  • Icing Sugar: Also known as powder sugar, or confectioner’s sugar.
  • Egg Whites:
  • Cream of Tartar: This will help your egg whites to whip nicely.
  • Caster Sugar: Also known as fine granulated sugar
  • Vanilla Extract: Vanilla and chai make a perfect pair.
  • Salt: gives the macarons a more rounded flavor
  • Chocolate: You can use either white, milk or dark chocolate, but choose a chocolate that contains cocoa butter.
  • Full Cream Milk: aka milk with more than 3% fat content.
a stack of 3 chai spice macarons.

How to make Chai Tea Macarons

My 10 steps to making these chai spice macarons are:

  1. Blitz the dry ingredients (almond flour, powdered sugar and chai tea) in a food processor. This will break up any large pieces of almond flour and encourage the chai tea to infuse with the other ingredients.
  2. Sift the dry ingredients into a clean bowl, discarding any large lumps that don’t fit through your sieve.
  3. Use an electric mixer to whip the egg whites and sugar together until they form stiff peaks.
  4. Use a rubber spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites.
  5. Deflate the batter until it loosens enough that it falls off your spatula in a ribbon shape.
  6. Use a piping bag to pipe circles of macaron batter onto a baking tray. 
  7. Allow the macarons to rest until they dry slightly, then bake them.
  8. Heat the milk and chai tea in a saucepan to infuse the chai spices into the milk.
  9. Stir the warmed milk through the chocolate, if the chocolate doesn’t melt straight away, pop the bowl in the microwave and heat in 10 second bursts until the chocolate melts and combines with the milk.
  10. Assemble the macarons.

Macarons are a little more involved than your average cookie recipe, but once you get the hang of making them, they come together pretty easily. If you’re feeling a little unconfident check out my blog post on how to make the best macarons at home.

Can I substitute Chai Tea with Chai Spice

Absolutely! Best of all, chai spice is easy to make at home. Chai spice is made from a mix of cardamon, cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Simply mix the ingredients together and you have your very own homemade batch of chai spice. Here’s a recipe recipe for homemade chai spice that would work great in this recipe.

Video Tutorial

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/689965605426433772

Storage Recommendations

Macarons do best when stored in the fridge. Believe it or not, a lot of people actually think macarons taste better the day AFTER they were made. But they’ll store well in the fridge for up to a week.

If you want to keep your macarons any longer, they can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer. They will last in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let them defrost on either the countertop or in the fridge before serving.

Related Recipes

Looking for more cool season macaron recipes? I have heaps of macaron recipes on my site. Check out these favourites on my site

Chai Macarons

French macarons infused with chai tea and filled with chocolate chai ganache. These chai macarons are to die for.
4.50 from 2 votes
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 7 minutes
resting time 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine French, Indian
Servings 35 macarons

Equipment

  • Kitchen Scales
  • Food Processor
  • electric mixer
  • Fine Mesh Sieve
  • Baking Tray
  • Parchment paper
  • Toothpicks
  • Macaron template (optional)

Ingredients
  

Chai Spice Macarons

  • 2 teaspoons chai tea (or 2 teabags)
  • 140 grams almond flour
  • 130 grams confectioners' sugar (also known as icing sugar)
  • 100 grams egg whites (approximately 3 eggs)
  • 90 grams superfine sugar (also known as caster sugar)
  • 1/4 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

Chai Ganache

  • 60 grams chocolate
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 teaspoons chai tea (or 2 teabags)

Instructions
 

Chai Spice Macaron Cookies

  • If you're using a macaron template, place it on a baking tray and place a layer of baking paper on top. Then put the tray aside.
  • Put the almond flour, confectioner's sugar and chai spice in a food processor and pulse for a minute. This will mix everything together and break down any large pieces of spice and almond flour.
  • Transfer the mixture to a sieve and sift it into a bowl. Then set it aside while you make your meringue.
  • Pop the egg whites in a clean bowl. Using either a hand held electric mixer, or a stand mixer fitted with the balloon whisk attachment, whip the egg whites at medium speed until they start to look foamy.
  • Add the cream of tartar, and continue to whip for a minute.
  • Gradually add the caster sugar to your egg whites while you continue to whip the eggs using your mixer. I tend to add about a tablespoon or so every 15-30 seconds.
  • Once all the sugar has been added to the eggs turn the mixer to high and whip until the mixture looks white, and marshmallow like. You'll know it's done when it is thick enough that when you scoop some up with a spoon it forms a stiff peak shape.
  • Add half the dry ingredients to the meringue and use a rubber spatula to gently fold it into the meringue. Then add the remaining dry ingredients and fold this in as well.
  • Next deflate your meringue until it becomes runny. Best method I've found is to use your spatula to spread the batter around the side of the bowl, then scrape it back off the sides and into the middle. Repeat this action until the macaron batter loosens and becomes glossy. Test the consistency by scooping the batter up with your spatula and letting it slowly drop back into the bowl. If it flows of your spatula in a ribbon shape, it is ready.
  • Spoon the batter into a piping bag that has been fitted with a round tip.
  • Hold the piping bag over the baking tray and squeeze the bag until a circle of batter (about 1.5 inches wide) is piped onto the tray. Repeat this process until all your macaron cookies have been piped onto the tray.
  • Bang the tray on your counter a couple times to encourage any air bubbles to rise to the surface. If you can see any air bubbles on the macarons, use a tooth pick to pop them. Then place your tray on the counter for 20-30 minutes to let the macarons dry slightly.
  • Your macarons are ready to bake when they have a matt texture and they feel dry to touch. Bake at 270 F (130 C) for 20-25 minutes. You will know they have baked once they have risen and look firm (but have not browned). If they look jiggly when you go to take the tray out of the oven, continue to bake them. You can also test if they are ready by peeling a macaron off the baking sheet. If it comes off in one piece and the bottom of it is dry, they are ready.
  • Allow your macarons to cool on the tray, before transferring them to an airtight container.

Chai Ganache

  • Pour the milk into a saucepan and add your teabags.
  • Heat the milk on the stove until it starts to steam. Then turn the heat off and let the spices infuse with the milk for 10 minutes.
  • Remove the teabags from the milk. Then add 15 grams of milk to the chocolate.
  • Give the chocolate mixture a stir, if it doesn't melt, pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds then stir again. Repeat this until the chocolate melts and combines with the cream.
  • Allow the ganache to cool slightly before transferring it to a piping bag.

Assemble the macarons

  • Sort your macaron cookies into evenly sized and shaped pairs. If you plan to decorate your macarons, I recommend doing so now before they have been assembled.
  • Transfer the ganache to a piping bag and pipe dollops of ganache on the underside of one of the macaron shells. Place the matching macaron cookie ontop.
  • Store the macarons in an airtight container in the fridge until they're ready to be served.
Tried this recipe?Mention @Kylies_cakes_ or tag #theniftybaker!

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