What's for Dessert
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For a limited time we have bookplates signed by Claire Saffitz.
With an emphasis on recipes that don’t require fancy equipment (no stand mixers necessary) What’s for Dessert enhances Claire Saffitz’s reputation as a baker who combines serious interest in flavor with an experienced baker’s practicality.
Her statement of “Recipe Principles” emphasizes ideas like only employing techniques which are central to a recipe: if she has you making a caramel, that caramel is fundamental to the taste and texture of the finished dessert, not a showy extra. Conversely, if an extra step produces a remarkably better result, Saffitz includes it.
On the printed page, the recipes sometimes look daunting, but in most cases it’s because Saffitz breaks the stages of preparation down into clearly labeled steps that often include explanations of why she asks you to toss the blackberries in flour or the risks of overbeating egg whites for a meringue cake.
The desserts themselves range from simple and nostalgic marbled sheet cakes to imaginative inventions such as a no-bake lime and coconut custard, creamy rice pudding with candied kumquats, polenta and pistachio pound cake, and quince and pineapple jam tart.
Full-color photographs showcase the desserts in high-contrast, color-saturated style that is either retro or very contemporary, depending on your age. It’s worth noting that type is on the small side, and some sidebar text is printed in colors that may require you to squint to read.
Still, very interesting and fresh.
Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.