Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence: A Baking Book

I read a lot of reviews before I bought this book. Another reviewer said that the reviews by people who got a free copy were fake because it had only been out for a month or so. Well, I got this book less than 7 weeks ago (I paid for it myself) and I’ve made over a dozen recipes (!) since then, and ~5 of them multiple times. I’ve been joking that it’s the best book I’ve ever owned and with each recipe, that declaration is less of a joke.... it’s just that amazing. The almond poppyseed cake is the one I’ve made the most, and I will say I add more powdered sugar to the glaze so it sets thicker. But mostly I’ve made everything by the book. The recipe matrix at the front of the book really *is* amazing, but my favorite part of the book is the recipe descriptions. They are so well written. I’ve made the following recipes: brioche + brioche pigs in a blanket, almond poppyseed bundt cake, kabocha turmeric tea cake, seedy maple breakfast muffins (I call them Birdseed Muffins), the oat pecan brittle cookies, chocolate chip cookies, focaccia, malted brownies, rough puff pastry, palmiers, buttered pie dough, creamy greens & baked eggs pie, skillet buckwheat blueberry pancake, classic birthday cake, cream cheese frosting, miso buttermilk biscuits, and rice pudding cake with mango caramel. My favorites have been the almond poppyseed cake. seriously, it’s SO good.... I’ve given whole ones to loved ones as well as slices of it, and everyone who tries it is obsessed with it. I had to buy some sturdy cake rounds & boxes because I know I will be giving this cake to so many people this year! Okay, back to the list of standouts— I also loved the pecan oat brittle cookies (quite a few steps but one of the best cookies I’ve ever had), the rice pudding cake with mango caramel (one of the best desserts I’ve had since my last trip to France a few years ago- I cooked it and baked it a bit longer than the recipe), the brioche pigs in a blanket, and the buckwheat blueberry skillet pancake. Only a few were so-so, and no total flops (at least not yet— I’m more of a beginner at baking so I’m sure I’ll encounter some flops at some point). Most recipes do take at least a few hours from start to finish, but she often calls for ingredients to rest in the fridge at different points, so that contributes to a lot of the time. Some are pretty quick and easy though! It’s fun to try new techniques because her instructions are usually very thorough. And I like the ability to plan out making different parts of a recipe across a few days. After getting the book I discovered I her YouTube channel where she makes different recipes from the book, it’s been awesome to use as a reference for the recipes I also made. Trust the reviews from the people who got the book for free for their reviews. This really is good enough that you will want to make recipes from it as often as possible. There are so many more recipes I’m excited to try- the flourless wave cake, tarte tropezienne, carrot cake, thrice baked rye cookies, gateau basque, clam and fennel pizza..... every recipe looks incredible. I’m just sad I didn’t know about it until ~4 months after it was released!!!! Honestly, I could probably write a few thousand more words about why I love this cookbook but instead I am going to go make another recipe from the book (her lemon tart!). Update: in the time it took amazon to approve my review, I made another recipe (which was technically three recipes?)- the lemon tart. Sweet tart dough, lemon curd, then the lemon tart recipe itself. It’s amazing and another standout. I love the layer of jam in between the tart shell and curd! And I love how tart the lemon curd is. Another win!!!

“Baking with confidence” is an unexpected subtitle. Saffitz has an engaging camera presence precisely because of her humility; her anxieties and doubts in the kitchen are relatable. Of course she’s prepared to troubleshoot her mistakes— she’s a French-trained pastry chef, and a highly capable and resourceful educator. Where this book shines is where she gets to present recipes that she’s proud to have mastered— ones which meant something to her growing up, or in her culinary training, or in her efforts at recipe development at Bon Appetit and beyond. She’s the kind of author who will title a recipe “Foolproof Tarte Tatin” and then promptly undercut her own accomplishment (“Is this 100% foolproof? Probably not”). So what do we get? There’s an emphasis on fruit pies and tarts, which the author acknowledges are her favorites, with a variety of seasonal fruits, flavors and presentations. Several cakes. Several interesting cookie recipes, a brownie recipe or two (included, it would seem, because an editor felt a brownie recipe was necessary). It’s not just desserts, either; savory items include quick and yeasted breads (including a workhorse of a focaccia recipe, with several variations for toppings). Most are targeted at a motivated home cook, with a minimum amount of equipment and ingredients but perhaps a surplus of time in the kitchen (helpful recommendations are provided in the introduction, and the more time-consuming elements of recipes are clearly marked and organized). At the higher end of difficulty are French pastries— croissant, kouign-amann, croquembouche— which I’m not sure she expects many home cooks to succeed at, let alone attempt? Regardless, given the instructions in this book I could probably manage pastry cream and choux for cream puffs, or puff pastry for the palmiers. All steps in assembly, including those for several “foundational” recipes, are well-described and carefully, legibly photographed, with footnotes highlighting tips, tricks, and pitfalls to avoid. I’m pleasantly surprised by the representation of Jewish holiday desserts here: mondelbread, a honey cake, a flourless chocolate cake, hamentaschen. Babka, challah, and a third “babkallah” recipe which she developed for BA that sits somewhere in between; more basic recipes for bagels and bialys. There’s a gooey butter cake from St. Louis. This isn’t a gluten-free cookbook, but there are a few recipes here that are and would do. Special mention is deserved for the food styling and for Alex Lau’s photography; presentation overall is first-rate. I’m looking forward to taking on some new challenges from this book. Highly recommended.

The directions are very clear and straightforward, and the ingredients are easy to find. I have very little experience in baking yet I baked a few things which I would feel comfortable to give out to family and friends. 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.

I'm sure there are tons and tons of reviews here echoing the same thing -- Claire is fantastic and this book is undoubtedly an extension of all her life's work. I'm an ambitious home cook and a novice baker who is still trying to expand my skill set. I will readily admit that this cookbook presents a good number of recipes that I'll likely never attempt, but that doesn't mean that it isn't good; just that I can't see myself dedicating so much time and effort for something that (likely) only my wife and I will eat half of. A lot of stuff in this book can get pretty fancy and involved. I'm a lot more of a cake, cookie, brownie kind of dessert guy. The recipes are well written, easy-to-understand, and there aren't any wasted words. Claire does a great job of explaining how and why things are done the way she prescribes them. She uses easy-to-understand indicators of doneness and describes what things should look like along the way. I really appreciate that she lists both volumetric and weight measurements for all the ingredients. I've gotten accustomed to measuring with weight when baking so it's nice to see that every ingredient has an equivalent in both systems. If you don't live near a very-well stocked grocery store some of the ingredients might seem a bit exotic. Some I've never even heard of. I'm sure a lot of stuff can be ordered right here on Amazon (and I've done just that). I have so far only baked 3 items from the book, but all have turned out really well. The brownies in particular are ON POINT. It might be worth buying this book just for the brownie recipe -- it's absolutely perfect. A side-note: you should totally subscribe to her Dessert Person x Claire Saffitz YouTube channel. She makes a recipe from the book about once a week in a very similar format to her... other show that we won't talk about anymore. Plus you get to see her cats.

First off, you'll need your reading glasses, perhaps even your magnifying glass, to read the print in this cookbook. But don't let that persuade you from the great content in this baking book. I saw a video by Claire Saffitz where she gave concise instructions for making a carrot cake. I wanted the recipe. It's in this book. The conciseness of her video is reflected in the details in the recipes in this book. There is a lot of instruction, but she doesn't overdo it at all. Regardless of your level of expertise, you're likely to become a better baker with this book. Most recipes are more than one page because they include a picture and ample instruction to achieve the results. As I paged through the book, I found many recipes that I want to try. There are a wide variety, recipes that I haven't necessarily seen another cookbooks, but none so out of the ordinary that I'd question "Why?" Bottom line, I'd recommend this cookbook for the carrot cake, the many other mouth watering recipes, and the well-done instruction.

When I found out Claire Saffitz was creating this book, I knew it would be a must-have. It lived up to (and exceeded) all of my expectations and perfectly conveys the kind of baker Claire is: meticulous and articulate. She has included so many details, footnotes, photos, and explanations of how to make every single item in the book. Even some of the most difficult recipes in the book (Kouign-Amann and Danishes) came out successful on the first try because of the thorough explanations and well-shot graphics. I got this book in February and have attempted about 10 of the recipes. Everything came out great (with the exception of the focaccia because I used the wrong flour - my mistake entirely) and the book is still in perfect condition. I will attach some photos of the goodies I have made (I am in the midst of creating the Meyer Lemon Tart) so you can see just how incredible the recipes are. If you like to bake or are interested in getting started, this will be a guaranteed benefit to your collection. All kinds of desserts, all levels of difficulty - and *all* well-explained. Buy a copy - you won't regret it!

I absolutely love to bake and I enjoyed Claire Saffitz's Bon Appetit videos. I had been hoping she'd put out a cookbook. The pictures in this are lovely, and the instructions are thorough and easy to follow. I would definitely call myself an experienced home baker so I have not struggled with following the recipes so far. I have made the focaccia, the speculoos babka, and the almond poppy seed cake. Honestly I thought I'd be making the cookies and brownies first since that's what I usually bake but there is a Dessert Person YouTube channel and I decided to try the focaccia (which is something I have never made before) and the cake after watching the videos. My husband absolutely loved the focaccia so I know I'll be making that again. The cake turned out really good and stayed moist so that is probably going to be a regular bake as well. I've lately been obsessed with trying new kinds of babka so I had to try this one. It's really good, not too sweet and freezes incredibly well. The cake recipe is very simple. The other recipes require more time than expertise but were pretty easy to make as well. I am looking forward to trying as many recipes in the book as I can.

It’s Claire Saffitz. Where can you go wrong? This is one of the best cookbooks I’ve ever had in that she helps you UNDERSTAND what you are doing and WHY you do it. The way she describes the steps, and outlines the way you can get creative, helps anyone understand baking and the ways you can make it your OWN. But even if you don’t - the recipes are fantastic and delicious just as-is.

Ich habe dieses Buch als Geschenk für meine Mutter gekauft, die eine erstaunliche Bäckerin ist. Ich backe überhaupt nicht, aber ich bin ein begeisterter Esser. Ich habe das Buch durchgeblättert und es ist sehr detailliert und beginnt mit den Grundlagen, dem, was Sie brauchen, einigen Techniken usw. Ich habe Claire immer gemocht und denke, sie ist eine sehr einzigartige Köchin, was aus den einfallsreichen und interessanten Rezepten aus dem Buch hervorgeht. Ich liebe das Buch auch optisch, es ist sehr angenehm für das Auge. Es ist super informativ und sehr groß, ich war sehr beeindruckt.

Llegó en perfecto estado. Me encantan las explicaciones y pasos, fotografía e impresión también impecable. Me encantan las recetas, deseaba un libro (inglés) con postres/tartas diferentes a la cantidad de libros que ya tenía, un acierto.

Claire Saffitz has written a fabulous book about baking and pastry-making with clear easy-to-follow steps. She helpfully grades the recipes so that beginner bakers can choose easier recipes to start off with and move up to more technically challenging preparations as their ability and confidence improves. But even seasoned baker's will find recipes to whet their appetite such as the Breton Kouign Aman or even the deceptively complex foccacia. 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.

Quick shipping, perfect condition of book on arrival. Recipes are typically Claire, concise, not too complicated, great ingredients, nice flavor. Everything is well balanced and user-friendly. Photos are really well made. One of the best baking books out there for a reason! Delicious and a crowd pleaser.

Chiunque conosca la testata giornalistica di cucina "bon appétit" avrà indiscutibilmente fatto la conoscenza di Claire Saffitz e della sua serie di video "Gourmet Makes", nella quale Claire realizza "da zero" e migliora gli snack americani - e talvolta italiani - più popolari. L'autrice rientra facilmente nella categoria di una persona precisa, emotiva e incoraggiante, tratti che sono facilmente riconoscibili nel libro stesso e nella sua prefazione: prima del ricettario ogni strumento, ingrediente e preparazione "base" trova accanto a sé una sua descrizione e in ogni ricetta vengono indicati pedissequamente i tempi, gli ingredienti e le preparazioni; l'autrice incoraggia il novizio a non impazzire davanti ad una ricetta non riuscita, ma di continuare a provare. Il libro, ovviamente, non deve essere considerato come un manuale di alta pasticceria, ma un periodo di formazione cartaceo che segue i vostri ritmi e non pretende grandi sacrifici o sforzi. Vorrei anche sottolineare che questo libro non è nemmeno un ricettario, ma bensì una guida che insegna con la pratica: infatti, ha l'obbiettivo di convertire chi si ritiene una persona specializzata solo nella cucina "classica" anche alla pasticceria, senza escludere i neofiti. «There are no "just cook" out there, only bakers who haven't yet been converted». Non aspettatevi nulla di incredibilmente complesso, tra le pagine sono presenti ricette e dolci che ispirano un'atmosfera calda e casalinga, nulla di gourmet che serva ad affascinare i vostri ospiti, ma che permetta ai vostri famigliari di concedersi un piacevole momento di dolcezza alla fine del pasto. Nonostante l'acquisto sia scaturito da un vivo sentimento di simpatia nei confronti dell'autrice, mi sono trovato davanti agli occhi un manuale che punta all'evoluzione del lettore, il quale viene metodicamente portato a seguire le ricette più semplici che in futuro gli saranno necessarie per quelle più complesse, e che poi lo porterà a sperimentare individualmente. Nel caso in cui l'inglese non sia un ostacolo, vi consiglio vivamente l'acquisto di questo manuale e ricettario al cui interno presenta anche un "matrix" (matrice) che categorizza la difficoltà delle ricette e il tempo necessario per completarle. Ogni ricetta, oltre al titolo, indica la stagione consigliata per preparare il vostro dolce, il tempo totale di preparazione e la sua difficoltà; l'attrezzatura necessaria - o indispensabile - e gli ingredienti; infine, dopo la descrizione dettagliata di ogni passaggio, sono presenti dei brevi consigli in cui viene indicato dove e come il "pasticcere" può fare qualche variazione.