Dessert Person

Let me tell you a story about rhubarb. It’s a vegetable -- a stalk more specifically -- that grows every spring and has a piercing tart flavor and pretty ruby red hue. Some people don’t like the flavor, but those people don’t get what a special flavor and texture it has! In this rhubarb cake, Claire uses it three ways -- placed in decorative rows on top, cooked down into mush and incorporated into the batter, and chopped and folded into the cake. It’s a celebration of rhubarb, a harbinger of warm weather and an inspiration to dessert people everywhere.

After months of isolation, Claire is overjoyed to welcome kindred spirit dessert people -- friends, colleagues, fellow pastry chefs -- into her kitchen to bake something together. First up in this series we’re calling (what else) Dessert People? Claire's good friend and food stylist (maybe you've seen her work in Dessert Person?) Sue Li. Watch Sue and Claire attempt to make swirled meringue cookies, mostly fail, and then drown their sorrows in a comforting and delicious meatball recipe that Sue has loved since childhood. It's fun, a tad crazed, and delightful.

Ever have a burning baking question you wished you could ask a real baking expert? Does your pie dough flop instead of flake? Ever botched a batch of brownies without knowing why? Well, you might have these questions answered because Claire is here to address all your burning queries in this new mini-series called Claire-ified.

One of the great things about baking is discovering that you can make a pastry at home that tastes better than one from a cafe. On this episode of Dessert People, pastry chef Natasha Pickowicz shows Claire how to do just that — and in the process, convinces her that a proper scone can be tender, light, flavorful, and not at all dry. Check out the episode for all the secrets to making a scone so good that it will change the mind of scone skeptics everywhere.

Is there anything better than birthday cake? I don’t know about you, but to me, bday cake always means yellow cake and chocolate frosting. This vanilla-scented cake bakes up extremely light and tender, but still has the unmistakable richness and color of a yolky batter, while the super-easy frosting gets balance and tang from cream cheese and unsweetened chocolate. Claire gives lots of pointers for layer cake construction, like what to do if you’re trying to frost it in a 90-degree kitchen (hint: it involves an AC window unit).

Think you have to make a zabaglione or ladyfingers or anything technical to make tiramisu? Think again! On this next installment of “Dessert People,” Pal and Munchies Culinary Director Farideh Sadeghin shows Claire how to make easy and non-traditional Nutella and Bourbon Tiramisu.

Friends, there’s still time to enjoy strawberry season, and in this episode of Dessert Person, Claire shows you three quick desserts you could practically make in your sleep to highlight everyone’s favorite berry. No real recipes here, just some easy methods and preparations, because simple is always best, especially when it comes to strawberries.

Follow along as Claire makes a delicious puff pastry recipe from scratch. This recipe, a hybrid of pie dough and traditional puff pastry, relies on a series of rapid folds to flatten slices of butter into thin sheets within the dough, which then release steam during baking and produce a flaky, layered effect. The key to the flakiest pastry is to keep it very cold, so feel free to return the dough to the refrigerator as frequently as needed while you work. Stick around for a bonus recipe as Claire walks us through how to make Palmier cookies.

What do you make for a group of people who love to eat but can’t have gluten or dairy? This Flourless Chocolate Wave Cake! It’s a rich-but-light-at-same-time cake made with almond flour, a dash of amaretto, lots of chocolate, and lightened with egg whites for a mousse texture. This cake might meet a number of dietary restrictions, but you’d never know from the taste.

These soft-on-the-inside and crispy-and-charred-on-the-outside flatbreads have a secret ingredient: cooked potato. It keeps them pillowy and flexible and ideal for stuffing with feta cheese and slathering in zaatar oil. But if you take away nothing else, let it be the delicious eggplant dip that accompanies these flatbreads, which is easy and simple and can be your go-to late summer side dish.