Devil’s Pillows

For the buttercream:
Combine the raspberries, habañero powder, lemon juice, lemon zest and water in a saucepan, and heat over medium heat, mashing with a fork. Allow the raspberries to break down, and the water to evaporate.

Transfer to a blender, place the lid with a towel over the top to protect yourself and puree. Pass the raspberries into a bowl through a sieve, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator to cool.

You can start making the macaron shells while this mixture cools. When ready for the buttercream, add the butter and powdered sugar into a stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, and mix until the butter and powdered sugar is incorporated. The mixture should resemble coarse crumbs and still be dry. Add a quarter cup of the raspberry puree, and mix well. Keep adding the puree one tablespoon at a time until the buttercream is smooth. Set aside until ready to fill the macaron shells.

For the macaron shells:
Sift together the almond flour and powdered sugar in a bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the egg whites, and a pinch of the granulated sugar. Whip on high until the mixture resembles soft peaks. This shouldn’t take longer than 2-3 minutes. Test if necessary. If you remove the whisk, and pull it out of the mixture, the whites should quickly fall back on themselves.

With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the remaining granulated sugar until incorporated. Turn the speed up to high, and continue mixing until the egg whites resemble stiff peaks. While you’re whisking to stiff peaks, add in the food coloring. When you remove the whisk, the egg whites should keep their shape.

Next, remove the bowl from the mixer and add the almond and powdered sugar mixture and habanero powder to the egg whites all at once. With a spatula, fold gently into the egg white mixture. Have faith, it will eventually be all incorporated.

Line four baking sheets with parchment paper, and turn the oven on 325ºF. Place two racks in the center of the oven, leaving one full space between them. If you put the racks one right after the other, the bottom tray will not have enough heat circulating, and will puff up on you, leaving with you ugly shells. Parchment paper works best for macarons—better than Silpat mats. They release the easiest with parchment paper.

Using a pastry bag and a #12 round tip, pipe the macaron batter onto the parchment in 1 inch circles. When you finish one tray, firmly grasp the baking sheet, and pound firmly on the counter 3-4 times, until all the air bubbles are out, and the cookies flatten. Repeat for the other 3 pans. Let the pans sit 15-25 minutes, until the macarons can be touched lightly without any batter sticking to your finger.

Place two trays in the oven, and after 8 minutes, rotate from back to front, and switch shelves. Bake for 8 more minutes, or until the macarons peel easily from the parchment. Remove from the oven and let them cool for 15-20 minutes. Repeat with the remaining two trays.

To assemble the macarons:
Find a good matching pair of shells and place about ½ teaspoon of buttercream on the bottom of one shell, and top with the matching shell. Repeat for the remaining shells.

Notes: You can use just about any spicy ground chile powder for these macarons, as I know it may be hard to source dried habañeros. Hatch chile powder would work nicely too.