Sans Rival

 I have to admit going a bit too far with the changes on the original recipe, but since my sinfull desserts are not always much in request, I was compelled to cut down on fat and sugar. Thus I ended up with lemon and matcha sans rival where butter is mostly replaced by cream cheese but the flavor and texture are great. I also found the opportunity to try the tricky macaron for the third and rather most successful time and plan on modifying the recipe with more sugar reduction for these overwhelming cookies... 

                    Matcha dacquoise

                    70gr                                           finely ground nuts such as cashews or almonds

                    36gr                                           flour (or additional nuts for more chewy meringue)

                    30gr                                           powdered sugar

                    5 (140gr)                                    egg whites

                    80gr                                           granulated sugar

                    7gr                                             matcha powder (optional)

                    1                                                lemon zested

                    Lemon cream

                    400gr                                         cream cheese

                    320gr                                         milk

                    40gr                                           butter

                    30gr                                           flour

                    3                                                egg yolks

                    60gr                                           lemon juice

                    100gr                                         granulated sugar

                    50gr                                           powdered sugar

                    1                                                zested lemon

                    half                                            vanilla bean

For the dacquoise, grind nuts with the powdered sugar until very fine and shift the dry ingredients together. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whip attachment, whisk the whites with the ganulated sugar to meringue and fold in the dry ingredients in two doses adding also the zest. Finally spread the batter on a 20x33cm rectangle of parchment paper and bake at preheated oven to 180C for about 13min.

As the dacquoise cools prepare the filling by warming milk with vanilla, zest and half of the granulated sugar in a saucepan. In a separate bowl add the yolks with flour, lemon juice and the rest of the sugar whisking well to combine. As soon as the milk gets almost boiling hot, pour one third of it in the egg mixture stirring quickly and then return to the saucepan. Stir well with the whisker to avoid clotting and when the cream starts to boil remove from heat and add the butter.

Let the cream cool, beat the cream cheese with powdered sugar until soft and combine the two mixtures with a spatula. Finally cut the dacquoise into three 11x20cm pieces and place the first on the covered bottom of a 11x20cm rectangle pan. Fill it with the first cream layer and continue the same way with the rest. Refridgerate overnight and decorate with chopped and sugar dusted nuts.