If you are not already familiar with Cordon Bleu trained pastry chef Molly Wilkinson through her drool worthy Instagram feed and hunger inducing Insta stories, we’ll give you a minute to hop on your phone and give her a follow.
Molly, who was raised in Dallas before making the move to Paris to study pastry, has recently decided to open her beautiful 19th century Versailles home to offer workshops ranging from the art of making the perfect French macaron to the mile high mille feuille. She aims to take the pressure out of French pastry, to make it fun and accessible to anyone who wants to give it a try. Her classes have already generated quite a bit of buzz as – over the last few weeks – visitors to Paris head to Versailles to have a class with her instead of visiting the palace.
We were lucky enough to spend a day with her learning to make macarons. Trying not to gush too much about the experience, we can honestly say it was magical! Maybe it was the mix of being surrounded by cakes in a beautiful setting and being able to spend time with Molly – who is absolutely wonderful herself – but we were completely inspired. By the end of the workshop we could not only tell you the proper way to pipe the macaron batter onto a baking tray, we could flick our wrists as we did it to prevent our macaron circles from looking too much like Hershey’s Kisses (ok, maybe not ME specifically…but the class as a whole).
Our class ended with a little tasting party where we got to sample our creations and other goodies our generous host had prepared. Needless to say this was the highlight of our day (who am I kidding, year!)
In the end, the lemon thyme curd filled macarons we made were maybe the best macarons I have ever had thanks to Molly’s top secret recipe, shared only with those who join her classes.
We would highly recommend Molly’s workshops to visitors to Paris with a sweet tooth – and really, what could be a better experience than spending the morning at the Palace of Versailles drinking in the culture and then the afternoon at a Marie Antoinette themed madeleine workshop eating it? This is also a great treat for expats looking to do something a little different on a Saturday afternoon, or looking to have access to a real kitchen – with an actual oven – for day!
Classes run for about 3 hours and can be booked here. Not into group sessions? Personalized, private classes are available too.