Claire Saffitz likes desserts. She makes no apologies for that. As a former recipe developer for Bon Appetit, she knows what it takes to make a recipe work, make it repeatable, and make it delicious. She takes issue with those who act like baking should play second banana to cooking, and she’s willing to back that up with solid instruction and confidence building for those who feel some insecurity in their baking.
Her new cookbook is called Dessert Person, and that title says it all. Saffitz is a dessert person, and she is of the opinion that everyone can be a dessert person too, if they find the right dish. She is not a fan of cloyingly sweet desserts, something that does turn people off from desserts, but she is a cheerleader for using bold and surprising flavors to lure people into new dessert experiences. Drawing on her experience teaching baking on YouTube, she offers a book filled with descriptive instructions throughout and photos of techniques to help out beginners.
Each of the 100-plus recipes have been rated 1-5 for level of difficulty, and there are active times and total times listed for each recipe. So if you only have an hour or two and want to bake something simple, you can try the Almond Butter Banana Bread or the Salted Halvah Blondies or the Spiced Honey and Rye Cake. Or if you have a free weekend and want to stretch yourself, you can try out the Spelt Croissants or a Croquembouche or the Gateau Basque. But there are also lots of recipes in between.
Dessert Person is written so that bakers can start with easier recipes and build up to more complicated ones, and each chapter is written with the easier recipes up front and growing in difficulty as the pages go by. For example, in the Bars and Cookies chapter, you can start with something simple like Marcona Almond Cookies, and then move up to the Cinnamon Sugar Palmiers or Malted “Forever” Brownies, and then continue on to the Coconut Thumbprints, Minty-Lime Bars, and Peanut Butter and Concord Grape Sandwich Cookies.
There are chapters on Loaf Cakes and Single-Layer Cakes, Pies and Tarts, Breakfast and Brunch, Breads and Savory Baking, and Layer Cakes and Fancy Desserts. There are traditional baked goods, like Classic English Muffins, Apple Tart, Classic Birthday Cake, Soft and Crispy Focaccia, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Sour Cherry Pie, and a Flourless Chocolate Wave Cake. And there are baking projects with unexpected twists, like the Black Sesame Paris-Brest, Speculoos Babka, Blood Orange and Olive Oil Upside-Down Cake, Peach Melba Tart, and the Clam and Fennel Pizza with Gremolata.
In other words, there is something for everyone in Dessert Person.
Personally, I really admire Claire Saffitz. I love that she wants to convert everyone to a dessert person and every cook into a baker as well. It’s a tall goal, but I wish her all the best with it. When it comes to desserts, I am more of a traditionalist, so I will definitely be pulled more towards the classic recipes she’s got. But I love how she has this book organized, and I love how much detail she is willing to go into to make sure I have the confidence to know just when to pull a cake out of the oven (instead of just going by the recipe’s time) or to understand how a dough should feel or a batter should look. I look forward to carving out some time to play with these recipes myself. Maybe I can convert someone into a dessert person too!
A copy of Dessert Person was provided by Clarkson Potter for an unbiased review, with many thanks.
