Baking Tarte Tatin and Madeleines With the Mamies of Montmartre

L'Atelier des Mamies, a baking class where grandmothers teach tarte Tatin and madeleines, sits a few streets behind Sacré-Coeur, tucked into the quieter side of Montmartre. It was one of those rare, properly sunny Paris days, and we arrived at 1pm not entirely sure what to expect from an afternoon of baking with a group of strangers and someone else's grandmother.

Marie-France met us at the door. She's part translator, part host, part glue holding the whole afternoon together, and next to her was the mamie (French for grandma) behind that day's menu of tarte Tatin and madeleines. Her English stretched to a handful of words and not much further, and somehow that made the welcome warmer.

Strangers, Flour, and a Few Introductions

Before anything went near the oven, we went around the table and introduced ourselves. Some of the group had come from the US, one from the Canary Islands, each in Paris for a different reason that week. Going around the table like that changed the rest of the afternoon. By the time our hands were in flour, we already had people to talk to.

We started with the tarte Tatin. Marie-France walked us through each step while the mamie, short on English, showed us what she meant, adjusting a hand here, taking over for a moment there. I'd attempted a tarte Tatin at home once before, and it had not gone well. This one came out of the oven looking like the picture in a recipe book, caramel and all, and I was more surprised than I'd like to admit that it had worked.

The Story Behind the Atelier

While it baked, we had a short break with tea, and the story behind the atelier came out properly. The idea traces back to a grandmother named Nerina, in Palombara Sabina, a small town outside Rome, whose granddaughter Chiara began filming her making pasta by hand years ago and sharing it online. That grew into Nonna's, an Italian project built around grandmothers teaching traditional cooking, and the Paris atelier is its sister project, bringing French pastry to the menu alongside their traditional pasta. Even the flour is organic, still sourced from a family in Italy.

Once the tarte Tatin came out to cool, we moved on to madeleines. Marie-France talked us through where the madeleine actually comes from, and how far the shell-shaped version most people know has drifted from the original. Both the madeleine and the tarte Tatin, it turns out, have savoury versions depending on who's making them, and Marie-France proved it by handing us one that, frankly, none of us expected to enjoy as much as we did. We picked our own flavours for the batch we made and left with the recipe to try again ourselves.

When everything was ready, it came out on a matching tea set that looked pulled from somebody's family cabinet. It did more to set the mood than almost anything else that afternoon.

A Grandmother, Through and Through

We stayed at the table a while longer than planned, swapping stories. As people in the group talked about where they were headed next in France, the mamie and Marie-France traded back tips for each place, specific and mildly biased, the way advice is when it comes from people who know a place well.

Right before we left, the mamie insisted on a group photo, fumbling with the phone, setting a timer, then hurrying back into frame before it went off, a true grandmother through and through. Then she pulled out her phone and AirDropped the pictures to everyone without missing a beat. Walking back down the hill afterward, I kept thinking that for one afternoon, in someone else's kitchen, we'd all had a grandmother.

How to Book L’Atelier des Mamies: Price, Duration, Address

According to the Nonna's page, the class lasts about two and a half hours and runs in English, French and Italian. It costs €70 for adults and €35 for children, and guests aged 5 and up can attend. L'Atelier des Mamies is at 112 ter rue Marcadet, in the 18th arrondissement, a short walk from Sacré-Coeur. Bookings go through the Nonna's Paris page, and the atelier posts on Instagram. Prices and availability can change, so check the page before you book.

Photo Credit: Atelier des Mamies / Arthur Enselme