I have loved Claire Saffitz since the very first time I stumbled upon Gourmet Makes. It was 2017, and I spent 13 minutes at work on Facebook watching the lovable, determined Claire Saffitz try to figure out how to make a 90s kid lunchbox classic - Gushers. It was then that I was absolutely smitten with Claire. I wanted to be her friend and bake alongside her.
Cut to 2020. Bon Appétit and Conde Nast Entertainment went through massive change, with national treasure Sohla el-Waylly leading the demand of removing two racists in power - Adam Rapoport and Matt Duckor - and the exposure of piss-poor hiring practices and wage gaps when comparing white people and people of color in the BA Test Kitchen. Favorite test kitchen stars walked away from their CNE contracts, including Sohla and Claire.
Luckily, Sohla landed a recurring role on the Binging with Babish YouTube channel, and Claire graced us with a cookbook - Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence - which we’ll be reviewing today. My husband pre-ordered me a signed copy from Barnes and Noble months ago, but I was so excited when it landed in my mailbox, knowing it was the first book I wanted to review on this blog.
Dessert Person delivers on the promise it claims - providing guidance for baking with confidence. I baked three different items out of this cookbook - Blood Orange and Olive Oil Upside Down Cake, Spiced Persimmon Cake, and Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies - and each one was (for the most part) successful. More importantly, where I didn’t succeed, I learned from my mistake, making me a better baker in the long run. Claire’s careful instructions and quick tips featured in the footer of each recipe were helpful and easy to follow.
Highlights from Dessert Person
My hands-down favorite part of Dessert Person was the recipe matrix found at the beginning of the book. Honestly, I wish every cookbook had this. Claire plotted every recipe on a graph. The x-axis indicates the total recipe time, from 5 minutes to 12+ hours, and the y-axis indicating the level of difficulty on a scale of 1 to 5.
This difficulty scale seems to carry throughout the book, too. In each section, for example Bars and Cookies, Claire put the recipes in order from easiest (Marcona Almond Cookies) to most challenging (Peanut Butter and Concord Grape Sandwich Cookies). The goal is to learn new techniques as you go, and those techniques will be seen again when you take on more challenging recipes. I love this layout. I think it’s so smart and will help even brand new bakers build skills and confidence.
In her introduction, Claire highlights the fact that this is truly a book for anyone and everyone, regardless of skill level. She is approachable in her tone and in her thoughtfulness in her recipes. I think a prime example of this thoughtfulness was when she commented on the fact that she doesn’t want to leave bakers with odds and ends -
“A recipe will use the full 8 ounces of sour cream in a single container, rather than 7 or 9. I strive for each recipe to have a sense of self-containment and wholeness, meaning I won’t call for two ingredients when one will do.”
As a home baker who doesn’t buy in bulk, this is a much appreciated consideration. Bonus points for catering to this ongoing movement to be more sustainable in the kitchen and produce far less food waste. She goes on to comment in her intro about sustainability specifically, calling for buying local, seasonal produce and how to swap in more reusable options instead of disposable one-use plastics like cling wrap and pastry bags.
My Only Criticism…
Honestly, this doesn’t even feel like a real criticism, as it has nothing to do with the book itself and everything to do with the layout and design. Maybe it’s my tired eyes - seriously, with a scleral buckle in my left eye and my right eye often overcompensating for it, my eyes are not great - but the font seems super small! When reading through the ingredients and measurements list, I find myself straining and double or triple checking to make sure I read it correctly. The font on that list is different than the recipe, and it’s slightly smaller too. I’d hope to see future editions consider bumping up the font size to improve the accessibility of this book.
My Final Recommendation
Be a Dessert Person and pick up a copy of Claire’s book.
Overall, the book doesn’t feel overly complex and that makes it delightful to sink my teeth into. It really feels like Claire is that friend that invites you over so you can bake together, eventually sitting at the kitchen table, munching on the the fruit of your labor with a fresh cup of coffee. Honestly, that would be a dream come true. But until then, I’ll happily give a warm welcome to Dessert Person as it finds a new home on my kitchen cart among my favorite cookbooks.