Jill Colonna - Mad About Macarons Paris

05/06/2026

🍓 Move over Wimbledon strawberries and cream - meet the French version.

Strawberries Romanoff is strawberries and cream after a holiday in France - and it comes with one of the strangest dessert backstories I’ve ever come across.

Depending on who you believe, it was inspired by Escoffier, Russian royalty... or a Hollywood con artist pretending to be a prince.

I first made it this week while watching Roland Garros and it felt like the perfect French summer dessert for tennis season.

🇬🇧 Team Wimbledon?

🇫🇷 Team Romanoff?

👇 Which one would you choose?
RECIPE: https://www.madaboutmacarons.com/strawberries-romanoff/

31/05/2026

While most of the world celebrated weeks ago… today it’s Mother’s Day in France.

And this morning, something lovely happened…

At the market, the stallholders were handing out roses, just for the mamans. Such a simple gesture, but it caught me off guard.

I’ve celebrated it this way for years now - ever since the girls were little and came home from school with poems and handmade surprises. So many memories of shopping together at markets like this, then cooking at home… simple things, but they stay.

So today, it’s all about the best of the market: ripe chèvre, a good baguette, cherries… and some chilled Sancerre.

What cheese would you pick for a moment like this?

Thinking of all the mums today - wherever you are in the world 💐 Bonne fête des mères 💕

24/05/2026

Some dinners work once. The best ones work twice.

Fresh lemon, garlic and herbs with crispy skin on top and tender chicken underneath.

They’re delicious hot tonight and just as good chilled tomorrow for picnics, salads or lunch boxes.

It’s the latest recipe on Mad About Macarons - and now on video! 🍋

22/05/2026

Who feels like bear today? 😂
Is it a heatwave where you are too?

Bon week-end from an extremely hot Paris 🥵

20/05/2026

Want to make French Toast like in a French bakery? You'll love this Pain perdu recipe!
It includes a video I took in my local French bakery outside Paris - and Laurent the boulanger shows us his tricks!
https://www.madaboutmacarons.com/french-toast-recipe-pain-perdu/

How to make the best French toast recipe like in French bakeries or restaurants. Easy recipe for Pain Perdu and how it's served in France.

18/05/2026

Some desserts are all sugar. Others let the fruit do the talking…

This rhubarb fool is new on the website this week and I already know it’s going to stay on repeat here all spring.

It’s made with rhubarb compote, Greek yogurt, honey and little pieces of candied ginger, which gives just enough sweetness and warmth without needing any added sugar.

I love it after dinner with crisp little tuiles… although I’ve also been eating it for breakfast topped with toasted seeds and nuts. 🍯

So I’m curious:
would you serve this as dessert… or breakfast?
RECIPE: https://www.madaboutmacarons.com/rhubarb-fool-ginger/

17/05/2026

Ever eaten seafood with a hammer? 🦀

This week I swapped Paris rainstorms for crab-bashing at Le Crabe Marteau with my talented artist friend Carol of - and today is actually her birthday, so do go over and wish her a happy one 🎨

The French don’t do quiet seafood lunches very well.

You’re handed a wooden hammer, tied into a bib and encouraged to get properly stuck into Breton crab, langoustines and oysters.

Honestly, it’s impossible not to laugh.

A few days earlier in Scotland, my mum and dad took me out for a belated birthday lunch in Leith - scallops, Stornoway black pudding and all - before giant ice cream sundaes with Auntie Shirley after her 90th birthday lunch in Edinburgh.

So between the crab hammers and the sundaes, it’s been a very happy food week.

Bon dimanche… or should that be “have a good sundae”? 🍨

Now tell me honestly:
would you choose the crab hammer… or the sundae?

13/05/2026

One thing I’ve grown to love about French hot chocolate is that it doesn’t try too hard.
The best versions I’ve had in Paris - the ones people happily queue for - usually aren’t overloaded with sugar or cream.

They simply taste more of chocolate.

That was a real surprise when I first moved here from Scotland years ago. I think I expected something heavier and sweeter.

Instead, it’s often the opposite: darker chocolate, less sugar, smaller cups… and somehow much more satisfying.

I finally filmed the way we make it at home here in France - including both the thick café-style version and the simpler breakfast bowl version many French families grow up with.

☕ Which would you prefer?

The full video is here: https://youtu.be/pchIUJ_Xato?si=juZpFYSBq2pJ3bv9

07/05/2026

If you’ve ever found desserts too sweet or heavy, French desserts can be a lovely surprise.

The best ones aren’t about sugar overload - they’re about letting the main flavours shine through. A proper crème caramel, fruit tart or clafoutis doesn’t need mountains of sugar to taste good.

That’s why I love adapting classic French desserts the way we make them at home here in France: simpler, lighter on sugar, so full of flavour.

So with Mother’s Day this weekend in the USA, Canada and Australia (still to come in France end of May!) here are just some of the French desserts to make this weekend.
What kind of dessert are you?

🇫🇷 Browse ALL my French desserts here:
https://www.madaboutmacarons.com/category/meals/french-desserts/