matcha, strawberry & royal milk tea macarons

Another time without a recipe. I haven't tried making macarons since... something like 2012, probably. Always seemed like far too much hassle. However, there was something I wished to celebrate in a very special way, and so, this attempt. I was quite satisfied with the result, barring the air pockets in the macaron shells - people with much more experience say there are at least ten different reasons for that, so I should work on figuring it out and eliminating the issue, someday, but. For now, this was a good attempt #1, if I may say so. I used Pierre Hermé's recipe and found it rather approachable. 

The macaron shells are matcha, decorated with more matcha & edible golden dust. The insert is strawberry geleé, and the ganache - probably my proudest moment here - is made with milk chocolate and royal milk tea powder. Yes, a royal milk tea ganache, otherwise known as the absolute perfection (and the ultimate flavour of Japan.) There are still two bags of royal milk tea powder in my cupboard, stashed away after last-minute midnight purchase back in Singapore. I shall certainly endeavour to make some more desserts with this flavour in the future. It tastes exactly like what I miss.

(for the ganache, I used 200 g white chocolate melted in 100 ml hot double cream, and then mixed in 3 heaping tbsp of royal milk tea powder. That's it. That simple.)