FAQs

Absolutely! As I’m British-French, I may use words a bit different if you’re in America. No worries, just refer to the Glossary of UK – USA baking terms if you’re not sure. I give our equivalents in France for UK and USA terms. Still can’t find what you’re looking for? Contact me.

I use good quality French butter preferably from Normandy or Brittany and often use salted butter, as it’s a speciality for many French cakes (e.g. Palets Bretons).
As I know it’s not often easy to find in the rest of the world, in my recipes I use unsalted butter and add fleur de sel salt in order to get the closest possible. So to get as close to our French recipes, please use European-style butter with over 82% butterfat.

American readers may be disappointed to see only some of my measurements in cups. I’m not forgetting you – but making macarons and French pastry is particularly precise, and the French cook and bake this way by weight. This achieves consistent successful results in your cooking and baking.

So I recommend you measure your ingredients by WEIGHT (grams), not volume (cups) using digital scales (they’re not expensive). This ensures that your measuring is as precise as it needs to be. If you’re used to ounces, with digital scales you can simply switch the button over to grams and we’re all talking the same language.

For much more in detail, see my post explaining why I recommend digital scales. In the meantime, I am adding more in cups only as an approximate guide.

A vanilla bean/pod is preferable for many recipes – but are expensive. I often cheat and buy cheaper vanilla and steep them in rum in a jar to swell them – for more, see my tip how to store vanilla beans.

If you prefer to use extract or powder, then use it quite sparingly depending on the brand you use. I say use a teaspoon but taste the custard first. If it needs more, add more but better to dose carefully. If you add too much you can’t go backwards! Some brands use much more – see Nielsen Massey’s instructions.

At present, I’m completely on my own without a team to help as I’m working hard on this website. As a result, I have no extra time to give classes.

However, I am making free demonstration videos on my YouTube channel. So please do pop in and support me there by liking and subscribing.

My macaron classes are detailed step-by-step in my first book, Mad About Macarons and also in the macaron chapter and much more in Teatime in Paris: A Walk Through Easy Pâtisserie Recipes.

I would be delighted for you to share!

However, the recipes and images on the website are ALL copyright Jill Colonna. If you wish to link to the recipes on the site, then please contact me (jill(at)madaboutmacarons.com) with credit to Jill Colonna at MadAboutMacarons.com.

For the recipes in the books, Waverley Books by law has the copyright and license to publish them, so they are uniquely in the books. If you wish to use a recipe from either book, please contact Liz Small at Waverley Books (info(at)waverley-books.co.uk) first for permission. Many thanks!

Don’t throw them away! They will still taste delicious. I have plenty recipes you can crush them up or use them to make:

• macaron tiramisu
• mini Ispahan macaron trifles or
• macaron berry trifle
• baked peaches
• crush them and decorate on a Bourdaloue tart

As for the cracked macarons, it’s included in a troubleshooting section in my book, Mad About Macarons. Many are easy to solve – it could be just down to your oven or even your egg whites!

Please contact my publisher, Waverley Books (The Gresham Publishing Company Ltd.), directly: info(at)waverley-books.co.uk or their UK distributors at BookSource.
For orders or enquiries Tel: +44 (0) 845 370 0067 or via Gardeners Books Wholesalers

Distributor for USA/Canada: Interlink Publishing.
Distributor in France: OLF via Relay H.

Contact me either via the Contact Form or by email jill(at)madaboutmacarons.com or directly under the relevant (recipe) post where I’ll be happy to answer you as soon as I can. Don’t forget I live in France so allow for the time difference.