Amour de fraise: Macaron with Tea infused Crème Brûlée and fresh strawberry

I always dream about making something special, well actually everything that I want to make is special for me, haha. Because baking is my joy of life, ^^, so I really love to make anything that will make the people "wow" when they see and taste it. 

I tried to make something like this a long time ago, but due to my lack of skill and experience, the macaron cracked and under baked, so no need to talk about anything else -*-.
But as the time went by, I think I have more understanding in making the macaron and I want to make this again.  
"Amour de fraise" or love of the strawberry is my adaptation from : Feuillant recipe in .................
The compositions of this dessert are macaron shells, tea infused Crème Brûlée, fresh strawberry and whipped cream. I'm lucky enough to get Strawberry cream tea from Columbus (the fragrance is divine, I fell in love with this tea when I visited my friend in Italy last year, and she send me a bag of it later ^^), that elevates this dessert to another level. But you can use any tea that goes well with berry (or simple black tea is not bad, sometimes I put 2-3 dried strawberry into a cup of yellow label Lipton tea to make a strawberry tea, my style, haha). 
You can see that the sugar amount in the Crème Brûlée is very little, it has to be that way, because when you eat all the parts together you will get well balance dessert, not too sweet, little tangy, and fragrance. 
You can prepare everything in advance but I suggest you to assemble it only 1-2 hours before serving because the macaron shell will become soggy.
My niece (who's only 1 year old), ate about 2 pieces of it, ^^, you can see that it's good for everyone at any ages, haha. I hope you enjoy it as much as me and my family do.

Amour de fraise

(Macaron with Tea infused Crème Brûlée and fresh strawberry)

Makes 8 (about7-8cm/ piece)

Plain macaron

110g ................................ Almond powder

177g ................................ Icing sugar

84g ................................. Egg whites 

28g ................................. Sugar

Crème Brûlée

A

150g ............................... Milk

150g ............................... Whipping cream

18g ................................. Sugar

4g .................................... Tea leaf (I use strawberry cream tea from Columbus)

B

100g ............................... Egg yolks

35g .................................. Sugar

1tsp ................................. Crème de fraise

3g .................................... Gelatin leaf

Finishing touch

......................................... Sweeten whipped cream

22-24 ............................. Strawberry

......................................... Mint leaf

Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
Sift 1/3 of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold to combine. 

Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
 Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806).
Pipe 7 cm rounds onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).

When you’ve pipe out all the macarons lift each baking sheet with both hands and then bang it down on the counter (you need to get the air out of the batter).

Set aside for 1 hour. After 1 hour the top of the macarons will be dry, and ready to bake.

Preheat oven to 150°C. Bake for 16 minutes (baking time can be varied, from 12-15 up to your oven) or until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and cool on trays. Slide a knife under each macaroon to release from paper. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week or until ready to assemble.

Make tea infused Crème Brûlée
Preheat oven to 160°C.

Bloom the gelatin in cold water.
Butter 8 small molds (about 5x3.5cm).

Heat the milk, cream and sugar until boil, take of the heat and pour the tea into the milk pan, let the tea steep for 5 minutes.
Strain through a fine sieve. 

Beat the egg yolks with sugar, then slowly add the warm milk into the mixture, whisk all the time. Add the gelatin and Crème de fraise into the mixture and stir to combine.

Strain through a fine sieve, and pour into the prepared cup.
Place the cup in a baking pan and fill the pan with warm water (about 60-70 °C.)
Bake for 20 minutes
Take the Crème Brûlée out of the oven, let to cool completely, then cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight. 


Assemble:

Take the Crème Brûlée out of the mold and place on one of the macaron, cut the strawberry into 4 pieces, and stick them around the Crème Brûlée.
Pipe the whipped cream over the Crème Brûlée and place another macaron on top, decorate with whipped cream, strawberry and mint leaf.

Amour de fraise: 

Macaron with Tea infused Crème Brûlée 

and fresh strawberry