About Jill Colonna
Real French Food, Less Sugar, More Flavour
Bonjour, I'm Jill - Scottish by birth, French by citizenship and family life, and I've been living and cooking in Paris for 34 years.
I learned French food from the inside: cooking for family, swapping tips with producers at local markets, and plenty of testing, mistakes and trying again. That curiosity led me to write one of the first macaron cookbooks published in English in 2010.
Today I share reliable French recipes for real home kitchens - family food, seasonal cooking, macarons and desserts made with less unnecessary sugar and more flavour. My aim is simple: to help you feel at home with French cooking - and taste France like a local.
And although I'm now French on paper, I still often get le and la wrong. My French husband and daughters have given up expecting miracles.
Macarons changed everything
My 2010 cookbook didn't begin with pastry-school perfection. It began with les caves à l'orange - the name my daughters gave my first homemade macarons, strange little orange hollows that bore very little resemblance to the elegant Parisian ones I was trying to make.
That should probably have put me off. Instead, I became obsessed with understanding why.
I began changing one thing at a time: testing, tweaking and learning what actually mattered until I developed a method that worked reliably at home.
Then French friends began asking me to bring boxes to dinner parties.
If a Scot could bake macarons for the French, perhaps she could cook the rest of the food too. That confidence changed everything.
The method became Mad About Macarons in 2010, one of the first macaron cookbooks published in English. David Lebovitz selected it as one of his favourite cookbooks of the year, and home bakers around the world went on to use the method for everything from first successful batches and wedding favours to launching their own baking businesses.
For 15 years, my publishing contract meant I couldn't share those original recipes online. Now that the rights are back with me, I can finally bring the recipes together here with everything I've learned since: the troubleshooting, tiny details and practical explanations that help macarons work in your kitchen. Coming soon!
Less Sugar Isn't the Point. More Flavour Is.
Living in France changed the way I thought about sweetness. The best pâtisserie isn't simply sweet: raspberry should taste of raspberry, chocolate of chocolate and lemon real lemon.
Even macarons need balance. Sugar is essential to their shells, but that doesn't mean the filling needs to bury everything underneath more sweetness.
After being treated for thyroid cancer in 2019, I began looking closer at what went into the food we bought and ate - questioning just how much sugar many recipes genuinely needed.
So I started testing.
The aim was never "diet food". It was better-tasting food.
Using less unnecessary sugar lets the real ingredients speak louder. That's now one of the guiding ideas behind everything I share here: real ingredients, less unnecessary sugar and more flavour.
Egg Yolks, Egg Whites
When you're mad about macarons, you need egg whites to make them - so use the yolks first. It's a delicious loop!
French custards make wonderful use of the yolks: crème brûlée, crème caramel, ice creams, sauces. I've got you covered!
Food and Music
Music actually brought me to France first. I trained as a musician, and spent two summers studying flute at the Conservatoire de Nice with Alain Marion. Music brought me to France. My Frenchman, the food and everyday life here are what made me stay.
I still play today - so if you hear a flute in one of my cooking videos, there's a fair chance it's me.
What would you like to discover?
French Recipes You Can Make at Home: Everyday family dishes, French classics and seasonal recipes.
Master Macarons: My recipes, methods and troubleshooting developed over 20 years. Coming soon!
Desserts With Less Sugar & More Flavour: French favourites where the ingredients get to shine.
Taste France Like a Local: Markets, seasonal ingredients, Paris favourites and food discoveries around France.
Ebooks & Online Courses: Go deeper with my step-by-step recipes, techniques and classes.
Come cook with me
Come for the macarons. Stay for French family food, seasonal cooking and the flavours of everyday France.
Macarons opened the door. Now let me help you feel at home with French cooking.