Dessert Person

Claire fact: English muffins made at home are fun to make, easy, and look just as good as store-bought but taste way better. Also true: it’s the only recipe in Dessert Person that doesn’t make a trip to the oven! Follow Claire as she walks you through the steps to getting those telltale nooks and crannies in your English muffins and how to make sure they cook all the way through in a skillet or griddle. Whether you like it sweet with jam or savory as the base of a breakfast sandwich, you’ll love the versatility of a freshly cooked English muffin.

True or False: Baking is rigid and only uses pantry ingredients, not fresh produce, and is only for dessert. FALSE! Part of being a dessert person is celebrating all the possibilities that baking offers -- in this episode, it’s a beautiful savory tart filled with caramelized onion and endive and topped with a fresh, bright salad of bitter and tender greens (this salad pizza is all dressed up). Who said baking can’t be dinner?

What makes the best chocolate chip cookies? In Claire’s opinion, it’s a chewy edge, soft and chewy center, puddles of chocolate (in this case, dark and milk), a healthy amount of salt, and, crucially, lots of butterscotch-y flavor from the interplay of vanilla, brown sugar, and brown butter. That might sound like a lot, but it all comes together easily in a couple of bowls, no stand mixer required. The hardest part is definitely waiting for the dough to chill in the fridge before baking.

In this episode of Dessert Person, Claire teaches her brother-in-law Nick, a dessert enthusiast but amateur baker, how to make Croquembouche. It’s a French tower of caramelized cream puffs and an exceptionally challenging pastry feat that combines lots of technique, precision, and architecture. What could go wrong!

Traditional cornbread this is not, but you won’t be overly concerned with strict definitions or categories when you try this savory, slightly spicy, bacony, baked corn [insert name here: cake, bread, pancake, etc.]. It’s a maximalist bakers’ dream, filled with lots of flavorful and textural bits that complement the corn flavor. Best of all, it’s baked in the same skillet used to cook the filling and comes together with two bowls and a whisk. Try it as a side dish all summer long.

Heading into spring and summer fruit season, for your consideration: a light, lemony, interesting-in-good-way cheesecake that pairs perfectly with any topping. The key ingredient is goat cheese, which adds a complex flavor, and the key technique is using less filling to keep a reasonable filling-to-crust ratio. Check out the episode and see Claire’s tricks for avoiding a soggy bottom and a cracked top!

Claire Saffitz goes through and explains her 9 Essential Pastry/Baking Techniques. Follow along as these techniques and end points will put all home bakers on the road to success. This video gives a number of helpful visual references for key techniques (How to Make Caramel, How To Crimp Pie Crust & How To Whip Cream) that are mentioned several times throughout Dessert Person.

It might not seem banana bread — a recipe made maybe BILLIONS of times — leaves a lot of room for innovation, but this version from Dessert Person is subtly different than your typical loaf. The almond butter swirl on top and almond butter in the batter adds a savory edge and toasty flavor, while coconut oil and yogurt keeps it tender and moist. Claire demos the very easy, quick recipe that requires little more forethought than forgetting some bananas on your counter until they turn brown.

Honey. Tahini. Challah. It sells itself! But we’ll tell you about it anyway because it’s so good and is a great starter recipe if you’re interesting in getting into bread baking. Challah is a lightly sweet enriched bread in the Jewish baking tradition, and this version is infused with honey, olive oil, and tahini, which gives it a subtle sesame flavor and rich silkiness. If you can braid, you can make challah, and if you can’t, Claire will show you how.

Claire’s been doing some light homesteading with her husband in and around a cabin outside of NYC. The newest members of the household are 4 beautiful hens that give the gift of fresh eggs every morning. Join Claire as she bakes with the eggs for the first time and makes one of the simplest desserts out there — the delicious, eggy, delicate, crème caramel. It’s a custard of eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla, baked over a caramel layer that dissolves and becomes a rich sauce for the custard. It’s a perfect dessert made better by good eggs.