Pumpkin Spice Macaron

For David's work, he would like to have some pumpkin macarons for their Thanksgiving pot luck. I don't mind trying new recipes, so thought why the heck not.
There are alot of pumpkin mac recipes out there in the interweb. In my head, I was thinking I would only spice up the filling. After all, I read that Pierre Herme' consider putting flavor in your macaron shell as unacceptable. He believe in the flavor coming from the filling. But, since I'll only be adding a dry ingredient, is that so bad to flavor the shell?

So, the normal macaron recipe:
(adapated from Mad about Macarons)
35g egg whites - room temperature
62.5g icing sugar
20g granulated sugar
45g almond flour
dash of cream of tartar
orange gel coloring
1 tsp pumpkin spice mix

1, Sift the almond flour, icing sugar, and pumpkin spice mix and set it aside.

2, Whip egg whites until foamy, then add a dash of cream of tartar. When the mixture turns more white, put the granulated sugar into the mix.*

3, Whip egg whites to soft peak, then add the orange gel color to your liking. Then continue to whip till stiff peak.

4, Fold in the almond/icing sugar/pumpkin mixture into the egg whites. Careful not to squish out the air out of the meringue.

5, Pipe out the macaron on parchment paper. Let it sit for at least 15 mins or when it forms a skin on top.

6, Baked at 320F for 9-10 mins. (start with this, dependent on your oven, the time may need to be adjusted)

7, Let cool then add filling to sandwich

*When I learned how to make the whip, I've been taught to put little in at a time. Some people like to baby-sit the sugar as it is being incorporated into the egg whites. However, as I've been reading more and learning more, dumping it all in or doing it little at a time really makes very little difference. Can you imagine restaurants and pastry shops having to baby-sit the sugar in a large quantity at a time? The only advantage of doing it little at a time is that you can avoid sugar splattered to the side of the bowls and you have to scrape. So that is entirely up to you, just make sure there's sugar in the egg whites.

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Pumpkin fillings:

Pumpkin Ganache (failed attempted) - need to do ahead
3 oz of white chocolate
1/3 cup of heavy cream
2 tsp of butter - room temperature
1 tsp of clove

1, put white chocolate (chopped) in a glass bowl

2, heat up the cream in a saucepan, remove when it bubbles

3, pour the cream over the white chocolate

4, stir until the chocolate is melted, then add butter. The butter add fat content to the white chocolate, but that's also why it will need over night in order for it to be in a solid state.

5, stir in the clove and mix well.

6, put in fridge until ready to use.

**Here's what went wrong: I think I had too much cream or not enough butter. I'm used to doing 3 oz of chocolate and 1/3c of cream along w/ 3 tsp of butter, but I think I should've done 1/4c of cream in order for it to work better. You can put it in the freezer, but the recipe above will 'melt' like ice cream in the macaron sandwich. So, less cream next time!

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Pumpkin Buttercream (2nd try)
I modified Yummy Mummy's recipe.
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp canned pumpkin filling
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened - room temperature
2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
1 tsp clove

1, Whip or cream the butter and add sugar into the mix.
2, Add clove and mixed until incorporated
3, Add pumpkin filling, one tablespoon at a time until smooth.
This mixture worked out so much better and very much to taste.

I also submitted this for MacTweet, check them out!