(Editor’s note: Molly Wilkinson is living The Expat Dream as a pastry chef in France and you can join in the fun. Molly – a grad of the Cordon Bleu in Paris – conducts regular classes in Strasbourg, one of Europe’s culinary capitals. And now she’s getting ready for big events including an 8 Dec. photo shoot and macaron workshop in Paris. Next year, you can join two intensive pastry workshops in Gascony.)
From her Toffee Bits & Chocolate Chips website:
8 December – FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY & FRENCH MACARON WORKSHOP IN PARIS
In a special one day course in Paris on 8 December, Eileen Cho and I will be pairing up to teach pastry and photography! Tis’ the season in this holiday-themed class! We’ll be spending the day baking, shooting, and of course, enjoying fabulous food made by Veronique Dagneau Bawol of Cuisine Elegante in her beautiful Parisian apartment.
Eileen Cho is an accomplished photographer and journalist who has published in Food and Wine, USA Today and Fodor’s, and who regularly shoots Fashion Week in Paris! She’ll be taking us through photography basics, food styling, and editing.
The workshop starts with coffee and croissants as we get to know each other. Then we get right into it with a Photography Basics course and a little shoot to try out your newfound skills as I finish a dessert for lunch.
After a delicious meal, we’ll make holiday-themed macarons together using a tried and true method. Filling options include a mulled wine chocolate ganache and the French version of gingerbread, pain d’epices. Each person will go home with a little box of macarons for later too! We’ll photograph the macarons with additional props in a food styling session and then get editing tips and feedback from Eileen over tea.
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Who is this workshop for?
Anyone interested in food photography, whether it’s wanting to pick up a couple of additional tips or further your career. All photography and baking levels are welcome! So bring your camera or iPhone and get ready for a fun day!
Workshop Date: Saturday, 8 December from 9:30 a.m. to about 4:30 p.m.
Workshop Location: Paris, at Veronique of Cuisine Elegante’s apartment in the 7th arrd., exact location details will be given at registration
Pricing: 350 euros plus a 5 euro transaction fee
The workshop includes:
- Breakfast, Lunch, and tea in the afternoon at a beautiful apartment in the 7th
- A basic photography lesson
- Editing Tips and Expert Feedback
- A Food Styling Lesson
- Macaron Class + Recipes to take home
- List of kitchen supply stores, patisseries, photography equipment stores, and current exhibitions in Paris
s for the Food Photography and French Macarons Workshop in Paris!
Questions? Email me at mollyjane123@gmail.com
5-DAY PASTRY WORKSHOPS – KITCHEN AT CAMONT (April and June sessions available)
Come join us in April and June 2019 for five days of pastry fun in Gascony at Kate Hill’s 18th Century Farmhouse, called Kitchen at Camont. We’ll get busy in the kitchen learning all the basics you need to know to create beautiful desserts and travel around in the region! (Camont is equidistant from Bordeaux and Toulouse.)
The itinerary will include a visit to the market at Nerac, a very cute town that was the setting of the movie “Chocolat,” a demonstration at a local bakery on how to make a regional dessert, the Croustade, and pastry instruction each day at Camont! We will use fresh eggs from the chickens, and flowers and herbs from the garden to decorate and infuse our creations.
Each day Kate will be making lunch and we’ll finish up the day about 4/5 p.m., giving you time to explore the region or just relax and eat sweet treats!
ON THE ITINERARY:
• Tuesday: We’ll meet at Camont to start off our baking adventure with a lesson in Tarte au Citron three ways. Each method builds on the next in easy increments showing you lots of techniques to make your own at home!
• Wednesday: In the morning we’re off to a local bakery in a nearby village to have a demonstration in a typical regional dessert: the Apple Croustade! On our way back to Camont we’ll stop by the apple orchard to pick up some different varieties for a classic French apple tart.
• Thursday: Let’s bake the day away! It’s tea time at Kate’s with little treats like Madeleines, Financiers (or friands), chocolate mousse, strawberry cakes and more!
• Friday: Today we are conquering a masterpiece, a French dessert called the Saint Honore, a pastry that’s made with a simple version of puff pastry, and whipped Chantilly cream!
• Saturday: We’ll meet at the market in Nerac to visit the stands together and visit the guy that makes amazing caneles! Then in the afternoon, we’ll make French Macarons together- going over the different techniques and filling possibilities.
French Macarons. Photo by Jamie Beck | Outside Kate Hill’s Camont. Photo by Jamie Beck | Saint Honore. Photo by Jamie Beck
WORKSHOP DETAILS:
- We will be baking in Kate Hill’s restored 18th-century farmhouse in both the original and the professional kitchens, and making use of the kitchen gardens, orchards, and edible flowers on the property.
- Instruction is in English (although Kate and I both speak French) and is suitable for all levels (just bring your love of baking!). Guests stay in nearby accommodation in charming Nérac that we can help arrange- from village hotel to chateau to country home.
- Each person will leave with a Oui Sucre! market basket, including your own tools you’ll need to make the recipes we learn over the weekend: your own a French rolling pin, piping tips and bags, a few surprises.
- Flour, sugar, fresh eggs, seasonal fruit, and an unlimited supply of butter are my secret ingredients. Dive deep into the basics as we make fanciful sweet creations with delicious flavors, delicate colors, meringue accents, and of course, all that comes with decoration (aka gold luster dust!).
Each person will leave with a Oui Sucre! Bag, including the tools you’ll need to make the recipes we learn over the weekend from a French rolling pin to piping tips and bags.
We will be covering the following techniques:
– Pate Sucrée
– Chantilly Whipped Cream
– Italian Meringue
– Créme d’Amande
– Lemon Curd
– Pastry Cream (several different flavors)
– Pâte à Choux
– Caramel
– Rough Puff Pastry
– and more!
THE FRENCH PASTRY WEEKEND WORKSHOP INCLUDES:
- Five days of pastry instruction (approximately 9:30 a.m. to about 4:30 p.m.)
Market Tour at Nérac and Bakery Visit - Very Small Group (6 max)
- The Oui Sucre! Bag full of pastry equipment and supplies (including a French rolling pin, piping tips, and tart rings)
All recipes - Coffee, Lunches, and “Gouter” where we’ll try what we made
- Refreshments (including local wine, bien sur!)
- A Camont professional apron
- All ingredients and materials
Does not include: accommodation, airfare or other transportation, other meals, personal items, and personal expenses.Dates:
23 thru 27 April 2019 and 25 thru 29 June, 2019
Location: Kate Hill’s Camont, about 15-20 minutes drive from Agen (and smack dab in between Bordeaux and Toulouse)
Pricing: 2,220 euros
To book in we ask for a 50-percent deposit, with the remainder due one month before. If you’d like to reserve your space, fill out this form and we’ll be in touch with more information and an invoice for the deposit.
About Molly Wilkinson:
Ever attracted to all things sweet, Molly left her marketing career in Texas to become a certified pastry chef at Le Cordon Bleu Paris in 2013. She worked for several pastry shops in Texas including Bisous Bisous Patisserie, voted best bakery in Dallas in 2015, before returning to France.
Since then she has helped open a Mexican restaurant (her other love) and worked at Chateau de Gudanes.
Currently, she is in Strasbourg working in freelance, writing, teaching pastry, and baking up a storm. You can follow her musings on being an expat in France and catch a recipe or two at her blog: Toffee Bits and Chocolate Chips blog here.
She also posts her recipes on Facebook, which you can see here.
You can see her Dispatches post here on how she got the Profession Libéral visa in France.