My macaron baking started with a container of rambutans; a tropical asian fruit with a wild spiky exterior hiding a delicious lychee-like nut.  I randomly saw a box at the grocery store and had to have them.  Half I immediately ate, and the other half I saved with hopes of making an exotic macaron fruit filling.  Sadly, the filling was a big bust.  After numerous attempts to thicken my fruit cream, it remained runny and unfit to fill a macaron.

With shells perfectly pink and already baked, I turned to my pantry to see what I could whip up for a filling.  Staring at me was a jar of strawberry rhubarb jam made and gifted by a work colleague [I love that I’m on her jam distribution list!!!] and beside it, was a tin of Fortnum & Mason Afternoon Blend black tea.  Short of clotted cream biscuits, I had the makings of a perfect afternoon tea.

A F T E R N O O N  T E A  +  J A M  M A C A R O N S

COOKIE RECIPE
+ add pink food colouring to batter

BLACK TEA INFUSED GANACHE
[enough to fill 35-40 macarons]

170g of white chocolate chips
1/4c + 1/8c whipping cream
1.5 tsp of loose black tea
Strawberry rhubarb jam

in a sauce pan, combine cream + black tea and bring to a simmer
once simmering, remove from heat and let sit for 10-15 minutes ensuring to stir midway to prevent skin from forming
with a sieve strain out the loose tea [be sure to give to the tea a good squeeze to get all the moisture and flavour out]
bring cream mixture back to a simmer and remove from heat
pour cream over chocolate chips and let sit for 20-30 seconds | proceed to mix
add mixture to a food processor to further smoothen and combine if needed
pour into shallow dish | let ganache cool to room temp
cover with plastic wrap directly touching ganache surface | place in fridge for 2hrs [until mix thickens] to overnight
when ready, whip ganache with mixer until light and fluffy
transfer to a pipping bag with a star tip

pipe a ring of ganache onto each macaron half
spoon jam into the ring to fill 
sandwich macaron halves together 
place assembled macarons in an airtight container and store in the fridge for 24-48hrs to mature
before serving, pull macarons from fridge and let sit until they hit room temp

Though my rambutan macarons did not turn out, these Afternoon Tea + Strawberry Rhubarb Jam Macarons were a delicious consolation.

Enjoy,