Facebook

Twitter

Yummly

Cardamom is an underrated spice. It’s cozy, spicy, and straight up delicious. These cardamom chai macarons really let one of my favorite spices shine! The spiced macaron shells are filled with a cardamom chai infused white chocolate ganache.

This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission as an Amazon Associate (or other affiliate program) from qualifying purchases. I only recommend products that I use and trust.

Jump to Recipe

Cardamom Fan Club

Over the holidays, I got to chatting with one of my uncles and we discovered a shared joy of cardamom! While I’m a big fan of the spice, I’d never tried it freshly ground before, partially because I can’t find any in our isolated town.

Well my fantastic uncle sent me a package of green cardamom pods as soon as we all went back home after Christmas! It packs quite the flavor punch. If you can’t find cardamom pods, the ground stuff you can find at any supermarket will work just fine.

Cardamom Chai Macarons

We’re sticking with my favorite Swiss method macaron shells for these bad boys, but they will be anything but plain. I added a dash each of ground cardamom and chai spices to the dry ingredients.

This was just enough spice to not mess up my batter, but also add a decent amount of flavor. Pairing the spiced shells with the infused ganache creates a bold and well balanced flavor. In fact, this was voted the best of this year’s Macaron March by my taste testers!

Print Recipe

Top Tips for Macarons

Pulse your dry ingredients in a food processor and sift out any large chunks.
Whip your meringue to stiff peaks. It’s best to whip at a medium speed for longer. Keep an eye on it!
Fold/ macaronage just until the batter flows like lava. It is best to slightly under mix if you are in doubt.
If you don’t have a macaron template yet, grab a free one from the Resource Library so that you pipe evenly sized shells.
Use a toothpick to smooth any nipples and remove any air bubbles on your piped macarons.
Bake one pan at a time and adjust the temperature and baking time if necessary.

Playing with Color

My salted caramel macarons were the first time I ever used powdered colors in my shells. For these cardamom chai macarons, I decided to see what would happen if I mixed colors! I also used more color than last time to see what level of intensity I could create.

I knew that a bit of the Burgundy would create pink and a bit of Blueberry would create a light blue. By using a smidge of each, I created this lovely shade of purple! If you’re using gel color, check out my lavender blackberry macarons for instructions on creating a similar shade.

Related Reading: Turmeric Latte Macarons

How Much Is a Smidgen?

When you’re using powdered color, like the Master Elites from The Sugar Art, you only need very small amounts. It’s entirely possible that you don’t have measuring spoons small enough. While you could just eyeball it, for consistency’s sake I suggest buying small measuring spoons.

I bought my itty bitty measuring spoons from Amazon. The set I have comes with a smidgen, a pinch, and a dash. A smidgen is 1/32 tsp, a pinch is 1/16 tsp, and a dash is 1/8 tsp. Those are super small fractions, so I prefer to think in terms of smidgen, pinch, and dash.

Jump to Recipe

Macaron Resources

5 Steps to Prep for Perfect Macarons
All About Meringue: Covering the Basics
Filling Macarons
Macawrong Brownies or 4 Yolk Challah (delicious ways to use up extra yolks)
Basic Tools You Need to Make Macarons
Macaron Templates + Macaron Prep Checklist (available to subscribers only)

FREE Macaron Prep Checklist for Subscribers

Cardamom Chai Ganache

First thing you need to do is infuse the heavy cream with chai tea and freshly ground cardamom. The recipe creates a very small amount. If you don’t mind having extra spiced cream laying about (would be amazing in coffee…), I would double the infusion part just to make it easier.

I used about 5- 6 ounces of ganache to fill my cardamom chai macarons. Ganache is all about ratios. You’ll be doing a 3:1 ratio of white chocolate:cream. Use 6 ounces of white chocolate and 2 ounces of hot, infused heavy cream.

Print Recipe

Watch Every Step

Making macarons is tough stuff. If you’re still working on your mac skills, watching tutorials can make a big difference. Check out the step by step video for these cardamom chai macarons.

Once they are filled, decorate the macarons however you’d like. The beautiful purple screamed regal, elegant, and decadent, so I had to throw some gold at them. I used an edible gold paint and a few brushes to create the look.

Top Tips for Meringue

Wipe your bowl and whisk with a bit of vinegar to remove any residual fat or grease.
Separate your egg whites one at a time into a small bowl before adding them to your big bowl. This is to prevent any stray yolk from ruining the whole batch!
Acid (like cream of tartar or lemon juice) or egg white powder can help stabilize your egg whites.
Whip your eggs at a medium speed for longer to create a more stable meringue and minimize the risk of over whipping.
Room temperature egg whites will whip up faster, but it’s best to separate the eggs while they’re cold.

Related Video: 5 Steps to Prep for Perfect Macarons

Enjoy!

Cozy cardamom and bold chai spices blend together in one intense macaron. The perfectly balanced flavors in this cookie made them the number one pick with my taste testers! Save the recipe on Pinterest so you can whip up your own batch soon.

Cardamom Chai Macarons

Swiss method macaron shells spiced with cardamom and chai filled with a cardamom chai infused white chocolate ganache.

Pin this Recipe!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, French

Keyword almond, Chai, Cookies, Fall, Ganache, Gluten Free, Macarons, Tea

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 45

Resting & Assembly Time 1

Total Time 2 45

Servings 30 macarons

Calories 137kcal

Author Colleen

Ingredients

Macaron Shells

110 g powdered sugar
110 g almond flour
1/8 tsp chai spice blend
1/8 tsp cardamom
106 g sugar
1 tsp egg white powder optional
106 g egg whites about 3 eggs, room temperature
1/32 tsp Blueberry Master Elite powder color smidgen
1/32 tsp Burgundy Master Elite powder color smidgen

Cardamom Chai Ganache

4 oz heavy cream
6 oz white chocolate chopped
2 chai tea bags
1 green cardamom pod

Instructions

Macaron Shells

Prepare 2 baking sheets with silicone mats, teflon, or templates and parchment paper. Fit a piping bag with a round piping tip. Set aside. Preheat oven to 285°F.
Pulse the almond flour and powdered sugar in a food processor and sift into a bowl. Discard any large chunks. Add the chai and cardamom. Whisk the dry ingredients and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine sugar and egg white powder (if using). Whisk until completely combined and there are no more lumps of egg white powder. Set aside. Combine egg whites and powdered color.
In a clean stand mixer bowl, combine the sugar mixture and the egg whites. Whisk to combine and place bowl over a double boiler. Heat, whisking regularly, until the sugar dissolves, about 90 seconds. Remove the bowl from the double boiler and carefully dry off the bottom.
Place the bowl in the stand mixer and whisk on a medium speed (KitchenAid 4) until you have stiff peaks, about 10- 15 minutes.
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and begin folding the ingredients together. Once everything is combined, continue folding until the batter flows slowly like lava.
Pipe macaron shells onto prepared baking sheets. Let the macarons dry until you can lightly brush the tops with your finger (15- 20 mins for me). Bake for 22 minutes, rotating halfway through. Gently poke shell, if it is firm, remove from the oven to cool. If they wiggle, add another minute or two.
Let the macaron shells cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Cardamom Chai Ganache

Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and add the chai tea bags and ground seeds from the cardamom pod. Cover the pot and let the flavors infuse for 10 minutes.
Strain the solids and measure out 2 ounces of the cream. Heat the infused liquid until steaming, then pour over the white chocolate in a small heat proof bowl. Stir until smooth.
Press clingwrap onto the surface of the ganache. Let the ganache cool to room temperature before using. If making in advance, once cool the ganache can be covered and stored in the fridge. Bring the ganache back to room temperature before using.

Assemble

Pair up the macaron shells. Fill a piping bag with ganache and pipe a dollop onto one shell, then top with the other shell. Repeat with the remaining macaron shells.
For decorating, you can brush or splatter edible gold paint onto the filled macarons.
Place in an air tight container in the fridge overnight to let them mature. Remove 30 minutes before serving.

Notes

I was able to pipe 60 shells, which made 30 macarons. You could have a few more or a few less depending on how large you pipe your shells.
For maximum color intensity, mix the egg whites and color powder about an hour before beginning the recipe.
If you end up with less than 2 oz of infused cream, multiply the amount of cream by 3. That's how much white chocolate you will need. For example, 1.5 oz of cream means you need 4.5 oz of white chocolate.

Cardamom Chai Macarons

Cardamom Fan Club