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, recently featuring in Greta Gerwig’s, fun-filled, Barbie movie at cinemas worldwide this year.

We were thrilled to have the opportunity to catch-up with her recently 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?

Rachel Hanretty - Mslle Macaron, Edinburgh

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.

A huge congratulations on having your macarons featured in the new Barbie film! How did that opportunity come about? 

Barbie themed macarons in pink and cream from Mslle Macaron. Online delivery.

We get some fantastic enquiries through our website but there has never been one as exciting as the email from the set designer of the Barbie film. It just started with a back and forward email conversation about the right colours for the set and before we knew it we were sending the London film studios hundreds of macarons in pinks, pastels and Ken blue, of course!

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?

Fruit flavoured macarons from Mslle Macaron, Edinburgh.

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?

macaron classes Edinburgh

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.

In addition to running a successful business, you are also Mum to an active toddler. How do you cope?

This is such a good question, and one I don’t really have the answer to! My wee girl will turn two in February and truthfully I feel like I am only now just making peace with the fact that I can’t run the business like I used to when I wasn’t a parent. Having started the business at 23, this is all I really know and it is my whole life so bringing a baby into that was always going to be a challenge. I do a lot of work in the evenings but in 2024 I want to find more of the elusive work life balance!

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

Christmas macarons

We have two fantastic Christmas boxes this year, one is our Winter Wonderland Selection which is ice blue and glittery with coconut snowball, vanilla tonka bean and cranberry and white chocolate macarons.

The other is our festive favourites with red velvet, black forest gateau, pear and cinnamon, spiced hot chocolate orange, caramel popcorn and Christmas trifle flavour macarons. Probably the most decadent Christmas range we have done to date.

Finally. What’s next for Mademoiselle Macaron?

We have worked hard on internal operations this year so that things run smoothly but that sort of thing is less creative work. So, I hope that 2024 will see us delve into 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.

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