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Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence: A Baking Book Kindle Edition
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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.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherClarkson Potter
- Publication dateOctober 20, 2020
- File size653104 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“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)
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
I am a dessert person. I like cakes and cookies and pies and believe that no meal is complete without something sweet at the end. When a server asks me if I saved room for dessert, the answer is always “yes.” I walk to the corner bodega late at night for a piece of chocolate on the rare occasion that I don’t have any in my apartment. Whipped cream is my favorite food of all time.
My love of eating desserts is matched by my love of making them. The alchemy that turns butter, sugar, eggs, and flour into cake never ceases to astonish or delight me. I crave the tactile sensation of dough between my fingers. Rolling out a pie crust or cutting biscuits is my version of doing yoga. Dessert is in my DNA.
So when I hear people say, “I don’t like sweets” or “I’m not a dessert person,” it makes me a bit suspicious. Sweet is one of the five tastes, so how can anyone discount it entirely? While I, too, reject cloying desserts, I suggest that those who say they don’t like sweets just haven’t found the right one. Whether it’s composed of chocolate or fruit, buttery pastry or creamy custard, there’s a dessert for everyone. In short, I think anyone can be a dessert person, even people who think they’re not.
Identifying as a dessert person isn’t just about a love of baking and pastry and all things sweet. To me, it’s an attitude; it’s about embracing cooking and eating as fundamental sources of pleasure. This is a book about baking—most of it sweet, some of it savory—but, more broadly, it argues in favor of an approach to food that is celebratory, abundant, and at times a tad luxurious.
Another thing I hear people say is “I’m a cook but I’m not a baker,” as if cooking and baking are separate disciplines when, in fact, they are closely related. These kinds of statements reveal a bias against baking. While cooking is considered creative, passionate, and improvisational, baking gets labeled exacting, rigid, and nondeviating.
This book is a defense of baking. The recipes are modern interpretations of classic dishes and put unexpected twists on familiar flavors in an effort to demonstrate just how versatile and flexible baking can be (which is why you’ll find an entire chapter on savory baking as well). As a whole, I wrote this book as a friendly rebuke to anyone who thinks of baking as a lesser art that affords fewer creative opportunities.
I started my career in the test kitchen at Bon Appétit magazine, where I still work as a video host and occasional contributor, even though I am no longer on staff full-time. Working in the test kitchen taught me to develop recipes with a sensitivity to the realities and limitations that home cooks face. As much as you or I might love being in the kitchen, I know that it can feel like work. It requires time and money to shop for ingredients. It requires washing dishes. It requires patience and attentiveness. Most significantly, it requires practice if you want to be even remotely good at it.
One reason I suspect people who cook say they don’t, won’t, or can’t bake is because baking poses a particular challenge. Unlike cooking, where you can correct course and make adjustments as you go, baking is less forgiving. It requires an understanding of certain rules and principles. Ingredients combine and transform in unseen, mysterious ways inside the oven. Success never feels like a guarantee. It took years of practice for much of my anxiety about baking to abate, but despite all my professional experience, I sometimes still feel uneasy in the kitchen. Will the filling thicken enough? Is it browning too fast on the bottom? Did the center fully bake even though the tester came out clean? These feelings are normal, and Dessert Person is here to help!
I wrote this book to celebrate and defend my love of desserts, and also to empower reluctant home bakers to work with new ingredients, attempt new techniques, and bake with more confidence. Each recipe is carefully written to provide all the information necessary to achieve a successful result. I provide notes to help explain basic baking principles, like why the butter in pie dough should stay cold, or how to whip egg whites so they form firm peaks. My goal in explaining the hows and whys of each recipe is to demystify the baking process and make it more rewarding.
My approach to baking is similar to my approach to cooking, which means I use seasonal produce whenever possible. Fruit desserts are my preference, and I usually want whatever I’m making to check one or more of the following boxes: crispy, chewy, cakey, custardy, or buttery. Just like in cooking, I strive for balance in my sweets, which is why I especially love using bitter ingredients like tahini and unsweetened cocoa, since they combine with sugar in such interesting and delicious ways. By countering the sugar in my recipes with other bitter, sour, and salty flavors, I aim for desserts that are just sweet enough. A variety of pleasing textures is important, too, so you’ll notice lots of crispy-edged, chewy-in-the-center cookies and flaky-bottomed, cream-filled tarts.
You won’t find a lot of individually prepared desserts here, since composed dishes just aren’t as fun as shareable ones. I treasure the tiny thrill of setting down a whole burnished pie, glistening tart, or fluffy layer cake on a table surrounded by friends, and the spectacle of cutting into it. Even when it turns out a little wonky, dessert is always a centerpiece, an attention-grabber, and an object of excitement.
You will not find these recipes overwrought in terms of styling, either. I see no need to try too hard, make a fuss, or be overly precious when it comes to presenting a dessert. If it tastes good, it usually looks good, too. I want a homemade dessert to look homemade, not social media–perfect. Every recipe should still be beautiful—an artful dollop of whipped cream here, a scattering of sparkly sugar there—but I’m guided by the principle that any decoration, embellishment, or garnish should also enhance flavor.
Some of the recipes feature clever, unexpected elements or flavor combinations, like the Preserved Lemon Meringue Cake (page 206) or Brioche Twists with Coriander Sugar (page 229). A lot will look familiar, too. For example, I rely on the tried-and-true mix of buttery pastry and brown sugar in my recipe for Apple Tart (page 91), since there’s simply no improving this combination. Whether it’s a recipe as unusual-sounding as Kabocha Turmeric Tea Cake (page 42), or as familiar as Chocolate Chip Cookies (page 133), I hope you’ll want to make many of these recipes again and again.
From simple Marcona Almond Cookies (page 127) to a complex Peach Melba Tart (page 121), the breadth of desserts in this book means that everyone from the beginner to the veteran home baker will find a comfortable entry point. I rate the difficulty of each recipe on a scale from 1 (Very Easy) to 5 (Very Challenging). The easier recipes are designed to make even a novice baker feel like a pro without great effort, while the more challenging recipes are projects. For more on this ratings system, read How to Use This Book (and Be a Successful Baker) on page 17.
I’ve tried in each recipe, no matter the level of difficulty, to ease the burden for home bakers. I call for standard pan sizes whenever possible. Most ingredients are ones you can find at any well-stocked grocery store, and I make every attempt to minimize odds and ends. For example, 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 where one will do.
This book asks you to spend time in the kitchen, but it also tries to make that experience fun and interesting. I hope that it leads already committed home bakers down a path of experimentation, creative expression, and maybe even stress reduction. I hope it gives novices the confidence they need to start learning and to feel less intimidated. And finally, I hope that it persuades any skeptics that baking is more adaptable and multifaceted than they thought. There are no “just cooks” out there, only bakers who haven’t yet been converted.
Self-identifying as a dessert person is my way of declaring that no foods are good or bad. Food holds no moral weight at all. Dessert is not “sinful,” and I don’t need permission from anyone, myself included, to enjoy it. This is a book filled with practical recipes for the home baker, but it’s also my personal meditation on the benefits and pleasures of living less restrictively. I hope that you not only make something from this book, but that you enjoy it, guilt-free, with family and friends. I am a dessert person, and we are all dessert people.
Product details
- ASIN : B08479CCHP
- Publisher : Clarkson Potter (October 20, 2020)
- Publication date : October 20, 2020
- Language : English
- File size : 653104 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 363 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #95,919 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author
![Claire Saffitz](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61nE7l01EcL._SY600_.jpg)
Claire Saffitz is a freelance recipe developer and video host. Previously, she was Senior Food Editor at Bon Appétit magazine, where she worked for five years in the test kitchen. She is currently the host of the series Gourmet Makes on the Bon Appétit YouTube channel, where she uses her classical pastry knowledge to reverse engineer popular snack foods and candy.
Claire was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri and now lives in New York City. She graduated with honors from Harvard University in 2009, studied classic French cuisine and pastry at École Grégoire Ferrandi in Paris in 2012, and completed her Masters degree in History at McGill University in 2014, where she focused on culinary History in the Early Modern Era.
Her first cookbook, Dessert Person, published by Clarkson Potter, debuts in October 2020. Dessert Person is a celebration of baking and pastry and all things sweet. But to Claire, being a self-described "dessert person" is also an attitude; it’s about embracing cooking and eating as fundamental sources of pleasure. This book empowers reluctant home bakers to bake with more confidence and approach food with greater joy, because anyone can be a dessert person -- even people who think they’re not.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the recipes clear, easy to follow, and visually pleasing. They also say the flavors are super delicious and the book provides lots of guidance and recipes for all skill levels. Readers also mention the visual indicators are helpful when baking.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the recipes in the book clear and easy to follow. They also appreciate the author's explanations of how and why things are done the way they are. Readers also mention that the desserts are visually pleasing and taste nice even if burnt.
"...I like Claire(the author)’s way of explaining things and not being too wordy, and I love her for being so simple yet being so articulate about every..." Read more
"...Why? Because the recipes are so unique, and because I've grown to trust Claire's tastes, which seem to be similar to my own – sweet but not too sweet..." Read more
"A very thoughtful approach to writing cookbooks, easy to follow and great results time after time! Also the selection of recipes is amazing!!!" Read more
"...Everything is delicious and easy to make without using a bunch of premade things which turn you into an assembler and not a baker...." Read more
Customers find the recipes in the book super delicious and perfect for autumn baking. They also appreciate the quality and thoroughness of the recipes.
"...tart pie that can stay its shape after being cut, but the flavor is still great...." Read more
"...The halvah blondies are unique and savory and delicious. The rhubarb cake is perfectly sweet and sour...." Read more
"...She is really the Maida Heatter of our generation. Everything is delicious and easy to make without using a bunch of premade things which turn you..." Read more
"...And I love how tart the lemon curd is. Another win!!!" Read more
Customers find the book's content inspiring, thoughtful, and extensive. They also say the recipes are rated by difficulty, with lots of guidance and detailed instructions. Readers also mention the visual indicators are helpful when baking.
"...What I really love about the book is that it covers a wide variety of desserts from different regions of the world, like St. Louis butter cake, some..." Read more
"A very thoughtful approach to writing cookbooks, easy to follow and great results time after time! Also the selection of recipes is amazing!!!" Read more
"Most cookbooks are boring and not good. This book has a good variety of the simple classics, the complex classics like croissants, and some out-of-..." Read more
"...There is a very handy matrix for the recipes organized through a time chart, which is a unique and useful feature for this cookbook...." Read more
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However there are times that the results are not as good as expected, and I learned that I need to follow all the steps thoroughly and the goal is still achievable. I am currently challenging myself to bake stuff that are “moderately” difficult according to the book, 3/5, with 5 being the very challenging level.
Some recipes are very involved and took me many hours to work on, but the outcome is very rewarding. I still can’t make a lemon tart pie that can stay its shape after being cut, but the flavor is still great. I spent almost five hours on the babka recipe yesterday but it is literally the best bread I have had for a while.
I bought a food processor and a Kitchen Aid mixer after I got this book. There are many many recipes in the book that needs these tools. There are desert that you can make without them, but they are mostly very basic (seedy breakfast muffins, pancakes, banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, etc). Don’t get me wrong, they are still great deserts, but this book can take you much further than that. If you are satisfied with those store mixes, and don’t like to get into much details, this book may not be a good choice for you.
The author has a YouTube channel for this book that everyone can follow, if you are not sure about this book you can check out the video and get a feel of what you are getting into.
I like Claire(the author)’s way of explaining things and not being too wordy, and I love her for being so simple yet being so articulate about every recipe.
My husband’s only complaint about this book is he’s getting chubbier because he can’t stop eating the dessert I made. Lol.
Update: I still love this book after 2 years. I have tried many more recipes since 2020, and there are still many more to try out. What I really love about the book is that it covers a wide variety of desserts from different regions of the world, like St. Louis butter cake, some Jewish recipes, some Italian recipes, and French recipes. I never failed any recipe I tried, because they are all tested by Claire before she put them in the book. The book holds up well after frequent use. I only wish the font could be bigger because even with my 20/20 vision sometimes I have to get really close to the book to make sure I’m reading it right. But I understand with all the instructions every recipe contains it’s hard to make the font bigger.
![Customer image](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/transparent-pixel._V192234675_.gif)
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2021
However there are times that the results are not as good as expected, and I learned that I need to follow all the steps thoroughly and the goal is still achievable. I am currently challenging myself to bake stuff that are “moderately” difficult according to the book, 3/5, with 5 being the very challenging level.
Some recipes are very involved and took me many hours to work on, but the outcome is very rewarding. I still can’t make a lemon tart pie that can stay its shape after being cut, but the flavor is still great. I spent almost five hours on the babka recipe yesterday but it is literally the best bread I have had for a while.
I bought a food processor and a Kitchen Aid mixer after I got this book. There are many many recipes in the book that needs these tools. There are desert that you can make without them, but they are mostly very basic (seedy breakfast muffins, pancakes, banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, etc). Don’t get me wrong, they are still great deserts, but this book can take you much further than that. If you are satisfied with those store mixes, and don’t like to get into much details, this book may not be a good choice for you.
The author has a YouTube channel for this book that everyone can follow, if you are not sure about this book you can check out the video and get a feel of what you are getting into.
I like Claire(the author)’s way of explaining things and not being too wordy, and I love her for being so simple yet being so articulate about every recipe.
My husband’s only complaint about this book is he’s getting chubbier because he can’t stop eating the dessert I made. Lol.
Update: I still love this book after 2 years. I have tried many more recipes since 2020, and there are still many more to try out. What I really love about the book is that it covers a wide variety of desserts from different regions of the world, like St. Louis butter cake, some Jewish recipes, some Italian recipes, and French recipes. I never failed any recipe I tried, because they are all tested by Claire before she put them in the book. The book holds up well after frequent use. I only wish the font could be bigger because even with my 20/20 vision sometimes I have to get really close to the book to make sure I’m reading it right. But I understand with all the instructions every recipe contains it’s hard to make the font bigger.
![Customer image](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/B1BYGlJz4RS._SY88.jpg)
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Even recipes I wasn't so sure about have turned out amazing. The halvah blondies are unique and savory and delicious. The rhubarb cake is perfectly sweet and sour.
For anyone thinking of buying this book, the biggest things I'd say to look out for are that her time estimates don't seem to include mise en place (a big deal if you're measuring nearly twenty ingredients, like in the seedy blueberry muffins), and I don't always agree with her difficulty estimates either. The mango rice pudding cake, for example, calls for making both rice pudding and a caramel, and a caramel isn't easy until you know what you're doing. She rates it a 2 out of 5, whereas I'd rate it a 3. There are also a couple of typos (like the brownie recipe's water measurement, which is accurate by volume but not by weight), but it doesn't seem to be frequent.
There are a few recipes in here that I never plan to touch, such as the fruit cake that takes two months. But for the most part, I'm baking from this book obsessively, and her YouTube channel contains so much helpful instruction
Top reviews from other countries
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Pictures of everything which is very important in a cook book!!!
Great book
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The photography complements the writing which is clear and precise as befits a recipe book of this calibre.
I really recommend this cookery book as an indispensable addition to any personal collection.