Ooh La La from Mademoiselle Macaron

Mouthwatering macarons, in beautiful colours, which melt in the mouth. Here, at Girls Afternoon Tea, we have been huge fans of Mademoiselle Macaron, Rachel Hanretty, for many years. From humble beginnings in her kitchen in Edinburgh and selling her delicious treats at local markets, Rachel has grown her business to a global sensation, even making it to the big screen in Greta Gerwig’s, fun-filled, Barbie movie.

We were thrilled to have the opportunity to catch-up with her and learn a few of her secrets.

Having followed your inspirational journey over the last 10 years, can you tell our readers how you first got started in the macaron business?

It all began with my time living in Paris where I learned how to make macarons. I spent a year there as part of my degree in English and French. When I came back and was procrastinating from writing an essay I entered a competition with the university careers centre to launch a business and overnight that is how Mademoiselle Macaron came into existence. During the holidays I tested the market selling to French restaurants in Edinburgh before giving it my all in 2013 and making macarons full time from my flat to sell at farmer’s markets. The rest as they say, is history.

Your macarons come in a variety of unique flavours. How do you come up with new and innovative flavour combinations? And what is your own personal favourite?

Coming up with new flavours is very much a team activity which more often than not is based off customer requests and feedback so all in all, very collaborative! I recently went back to my recipes from Paris to make our white chocolate and pistachio macaron and want to look more at collaborating with other producers to make unique flavours.

One of my favourites is from the early days when I made a chocolate and passionfruit macaron. I got the passionfruit flavouring from a shop called Mora in Paris and when I ran out of it I stopped making that flavour.  Then I couldn’t find it when I went back to Paris. That said, our passionfruit macaron made with white chocolate is delicious!

We love the idea of attending a macaron course. What motivated you to start offering these courses and can you tell us what participants can expect to learn?

I love running the classes. We do them once a month and try to keep them small to 8-10 people per class. We’re an online business after deciding to no longer have a bricks and mortar retail shop so running the classes is one of the few times I have to speak to customers and that brings me joy.

We make five different flavours of macaron and at the end of the class share them out between the group so you can go home with 30 or more macarons as well as our recipe book.

Christmas is just around the corner. What would you recommend as the ultimate Christmas treat from your fabulous range?

Instead of the usual chocolates or mince pies, we’ve transformed traditional Christmas flavours into exquisite French macarons – crisp on the outside, soft within, and filled with luxurious seasonal ganache and creams. Each bite is a delicious moment of indulgence, designed to surprise and delight.

For those in Edinburgh, we’ve created a show-stopping centerpiece Christmas Wreath which is made for sharing. It has 11 salted caramel macarons, finished with hand decoration and a red bow a show-stopping centrepiece made for sharing. However, as it’s quite delicate, it’s only available for local pickup from our kitchen in Edinburgh.

We’ve also branched out that little bit further with gift sets which compliment the macarons. These include perfect tea pairings and gifts which complete a lovely gift set.

Finally. What’s next for Mademoiselle Macaron?

Going forward, we’ll start exploring some really exciting sales and marketing opportunities and collaborations that will show off the Mademoiselle Macaron brand and continue developing more flavours.

Delicious Macarons for All Tastes

If you are drooling at the mouth (I know we are), why not pop-along to Mademoiselle Macaron’s online store and make someone’s day with a fabulous box of macarons for Christmas. Or, better still, treat yourself.

TOP TIP: Look out for Rachel’s newsletter sign-up button on the left of her website and get 10% off your first order.