Pumpkin Chai Tea Macarons

Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.*Sift your almond meal and powdered sugar together in a bowl. Stir in your chai tea spices. Pour 55 g of egg whites on top, do not stir. Set aside.Put the other 55 g of egg whites in the clean and dry bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment.Put the granulated sugar and water into a small saucepan with a candy thermometer and set over medium heat, gently swirling the pan occasionally to ensure all the sugar melts.When the thermometer reaches 220 F, start your stand mixer on medium/low speed. You just want the egg whites to get frothy like a bubble bath.When the sugar mixture reaches 234 F (soft ball stage), remove from the heat immediately. Bring your mixer to high speed, and drizzle in the sugar syrup, being careful not to touch the sides of the bowl.When the egg white and sugar mixture has reached a consistency where a "puff" will stay on the whisk when lifted, stop.Add your food coloring if desired, then dump in the contents of your almond meal/sugar/egg white bowl.Fold the almond meal mixture into the egg whites moving your spatula from the center of the bowl out towards the edges until the almond meal has been incorporated and the shell mixture is the consistency of slow moving lava - about 50 strokes.Fit your piping bag with a round frosting tip** and fill with your macaron batter.Pipe the batter into even rounds on your prepared baking sheets, rap 2-3 times on the counter to remove air bubbles, and set aside.Preheat your oven to 300 F. ***Bake macaron shells one sheet at a time on the middle rack for 14-16 minutes, until shells lift easily from the baking sheet.Allow to rest 10 minutes on the sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Pair equally sized shells together for filling.Wash and dry your mixer bowl. Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment.Beat together the butter and pumpkin puree at medium speed until combined.Add the vanilla extract and salt.Working in batches, add the powdered sugar.The final filling consistency should be somewhat firm but still easy to pipe.Place the filling into another piping bag filled with a round tip, or use my preferred method, a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off, and pipe filling onto one half of each macaron. Don't overfill.Allow the macarons to rest for a few hours, or overnight, in the refrigerator to allow the flavors to blend. Remove from the refrigerator a few minutes before eating to allow the filling to soften.Macarons will keep up to one week in the refrigerator.