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Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence: A Baking Book (Hardcover)
Staff Reviews
After a particularly disastrous attempt at a Great British Bake Off recipe, my most recent birthday was rescued by Claire's Classic Birthday Cake -- the best yellow cake I've ever had, made by my husband who has made exactly one layer cake in the last eight years. Whether you are an experienced baker or you just enjoy eating delicious baked goods but have never used your oven, Dessert Person is the perfect book to turn to. One of my favorite features is the "Recipe Matrix" that shows where recipes fall in terms of both the time it takes to complete them and how difficult they are so you can choose what to make based on how ambitious you're feeling.
This is as well put together a cookbook as I've come across, and I've spent time with a lot of cookbooks. All of the recipes are clear, with detailed instructions, useful modifications, and step-by-step pictures when warranted. Unlike so many cookbooks these days, each recipe is prefaced with just a single paragraph; there are no sweeping essays that wind their way through the author's life, eventually getting around to the food. Everything that my husband and I have baked from this book has come out amazingly, and we're enjoying eating our way through the whole thing. It's worth noting that despite the title, there is a chapter of savory baked goods as well, and they're just as delicious as the sweet.
An added bonus to this book is the Dessert Person video series on YouTube, in which Claire makes recipes from the book (and a few others). Watching a professional make these recipes, seeing exactly what color the butter should be browned to, what consistency a batter should be, all done in a tiny New York City kitchen that would drive me utterly insane, is so helpful and incredibly inspiring.
--Lucinda, Longfellow Books
— From Lucinda Recommends!Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In her first cookbook, Bon Appétit and YouTube star of the show Gourmet Makes offers wisdom, problem-solving strategies, and more than 100 meticulously tested, creative, and inspiring recipes.
IACP AWARD WINNER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Bon Appétit • NPR • The Atlanta Journal-Constitution • Salon • Epicurious
“There are no ‘just cooks’ out there, only bakers who haven't yet been converted. I am a dessert person, and we are all dessert people.”—Claire Saffitz
Claire Saffitz is a baking hero for a new generation. In Dessert Person, fans will find Claire’s signature spin on sweet and savory recipes like Babkallah (a babka-Challah mashup), Apple and Concord Grape Crumble Pie, Strawberry-Cornmeal Layer Cake, Crispy Mushroom Galette, and Malted Forever Brownies. She outlines the problems and solutions for each recipe—like what to do if your pie dough for Sour Cherry Pie cracks (patch it with dough or a quiche flour paste!)—as well as practical do’s and don’ts, skill level, prep and bake time, step-by-step photography, and foundational know-how. With her trademark warmth and superpower ability to explain anything baking related, Claire is ready to make everyone a dessert person.
About the Author
Claire Saffitz is the host of Bon Appétit's Gourmet Makes and Baking School, both on YouTube and iTunes, and contributes stories and recipes to the print magazine. After graduating from Harvard University, Saffitz received a master's degree in culinary history from McGill in Montreal and then studied pastry in Paris at École Grégoire Ferrandi. She lives in New York City.
Praise For…
“This is a wonderful book for experienced bakers—there are plenty of surprises and challenges—and an ideal one for beginners. Look at the Recipe Matrix, choose an easy recipe that doesn’t take much time, follow Claire’s directions, and chalk up your first win. If you’re not already a dessert person, Claire will make you one.”—Dorie Greenspan, author of Dorie’s Cookies and Everyday Dorie
“Claire Saffitz is a skillful and imaginative baker with a knack for writing beautiful recipes. Her gorgeous book will unleash the inner dessert person in a novice and inspire those who know their way around a pastry kitchen. It certainly has a place on my shelf.”—Claudia Fleming, chef and author of The Last Course
“ I’ve always been a fan of Claire’s work at Bon Appétit, and I am most definitely a dessert person, so this book really appeals to me. Her recipes all have modern twists of flavor, but at their core they are the familiar bakes we always want to get into the kitchen for.”—Claire Ptak, Violet Cakes director
"Claire’s easier take on the French galette des rois will win over those who want to make one with less fuss, and have more fun doing it. If anyone can turn you into a dessert person, it’s Claire. You’ll want to make everything in this book, as I do.”—David Lebovitz, author My Paris Kitchen and Drinking French
“If you know Claire (and how could you not?), gourmet Doritos and Skittles may come to mind, but she’s got so much more up her flour-dusted sleeve. From the subtle flavors of a pear and chestnut cake to miso-spiked buttermilk biscuits, Dessert Person is Claire’s personal dissertation on baking.”—Stella Parks, author of BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts
“ As a lover of all-things-dessert, I instantly identified the same in Claire—a sister in search for creative, delicious ingredients rooted in classic baking technique. She has that rare combination of creative generosity crossed with baking-professor that the very best authors can convey in a book, and it will make this one a classic.”—Elisabeth Prueitt, founder, Tartine
“Dessert is last in a meal but first in many people’s hearts. It also, beneath the sweetness, requires a sophisticated mix of time management, architectural thinking, visual seduction, and unexpected restraint. As these recipes prove, Claire Saffitz has all of that, and more.”—Questlove
“Does any chef have a more reassuring and trustworthy voice than Claire Saffitz? Equal parts tireless, hyper-organized technician and empathic cheerleader, Claire presents one of the most convincing arguments I've ever read for diving into the world of baking. If anybody can fell the wall that divides home cooks and home bakers, it's Claire, with her thoroughly modern yet classically elegant desserts.”—Natasha Pickowicz, Pastry Chef
“Exceptional . . . This should become a go-to reference for any home baker.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
