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    Serena Lissy » Blog » Resources

    Published: Jun 11, 2021 by serena · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Dessert Person: A Cookbook Review

    There are many cookbooks in the world. Millions of them all telling you how to make a perfect dish or dessert. But what if I told you that there was one cookbook with recipes and findings that would make your mouth water? What if I told you it had pictures for every recipe and even some great tips as well? This is not just any cookbook though - It's a Dessert Person Cookbook!
    Our review of Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz will give you an overview of the book, as well as an overview of two recipes we baked from it. We hope you enjoy the next edition of our Friday Food Reads series.

    Loaf of Babka with a slice cut out

    About The Author, Claire Saffitz

    Anyone that believes every meal should end with something sweet is my kind of person! Claire Saffitz is a dessert person. Not only does she love eating them, but she also loves making them. She wants to empower home bakers to work with new ingredients, attempt new techniques, and bake with more confidence. All the same things we strive to do at our Sweet Academy. I love that she spends the time to explain the hows and whys in the recipe. She doesn't go fancy with the desserts, and I like that she prefers sharable desserts.

    Recipe For Success

    Each recipe in the book comes with a difficulty rating of 1 to 5. One being very easy, and five being very challenging. The recipes in each chapter are organized by easiest to most difficult. So if you are new and nervous, start with the first recipe in the chapter and work your way through it.

    I also love that she gives baking times, but also gives you an indicator of how it should be looking to test for doneness.

    There are lots of great techniques and tips for something as simple as filling a pastry bag or how to brown butter.

    How The Book Is Broken Down

    The book has seven chapters. Six are broken out in categories like loaf cakes, pies and tarts, bars and cookies, layer cakes, etc. The seventh chapter is full of her foundation recipes which get used throughout the book. I think every recipe has images of the final product and also a few with process shots. I love when they include the final product shot. It really does let me know what I'm striving for.

    Two loaves of speculoos Babka

    Speculoos Babka

    This was the first recipe I made from the book. And I will say it was delicious. I'm someone that could eat speculoos daily, although I don't, I could. The babka was made with the base recipe of sweet yeast dough. I'm a big fan of chocolate babka, so I figured why not. She provided some do ahead tips, what to do if I only wanted one loaf and not two...really?!? Of course I wanted two!

    I'm going to say she warns you that this will rise in the oven, and boy did it ever. If I were to make any changes to this recipe, I would reduce cinnamon. It felt a bit overpowering, and I was missing more of the speculoos flavor. Be sure to follow her instructions for the rising size, and you will have a loaf you love.

    Slices of Rhubarb Cake on a cutting board

    Rhubarb Cake From Dessert Person

    The second recipe we made was this gorgeous rhubarb cake. I am a rhubarb person! I know there are rhubarb haters out there, but I can't resist that delicious tart flavor from cooking with the vegetable in desserts. The cake is moist and light on top of being sweet enough to satisfy anyone's tastebuds who crave something more than vanilla or chocolate flavors all the time. This dessert got two stars for difficulty because you had to cook the rhubarb first before adding them into your batter - which as any experienced baker knows takes up some extra time and energy.

    This would be rated as one of our favorites since she gives clear visual cues about how done everything should be when checking on them, so there's no guesswork involved… My finished cake was completed about 20 minutes less than her cooking time suggested. So be sure to follow the visual queues.

    Should You Buy Dessert Person?

    The Dessert Person Cookbook is a great addition to any cook’s library. It has recipes for every occasion and even some helpful tips on how to get through those pesky recipe steps without losing your mind in the process! If you are looking for a new dessert book or just want something that might make your mouth water, this could be it. I would recommend giving it a try if you have been searching high and low for an amazing dessert cookbook with tons of tasty recipes-because the Dessert Person Cookbook should definitely satisfy both cravings!

    Other Friday Food Reads

    • Pie Camp
    • Friday Food Reads – The Good Book of Southern Baking
    • Now For Something Sweet
    • 100 Cookies

    Looking For More Recipes?

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    As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases. What that means is if you click on one of our affiliate links, they may toss a few pennies our way for a commission.

    More Resources

    • Scoop of Cookie Dough
      Tips To Prevent Cookies From Spreading
    • Cubes of Butter
      How To Quickly Soften Butter
    • Cupcakes to be stored
      How To Store And Freeze Cupcakes
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      Getting Started With Snapseed

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Emily Liao says

      June 12, 2021 at 12:35 pm

      That rhubarb cake looks amazing! Can't wait to try it 🙂

      Reply
      • serena says

        June 13, 2021 at 8:07 am

        Thanks Emily!

        Reply
    2. Biana says

      June 12, 2021 at 12:33 pm

      Sounds like a great cookbook. The rhubarb cake is gorgeous!

      Reply
      • serena says

        June 13, 2021 at 8:07 am

        Thanks so much!

        Reply
    3. Jac says

      June 12, 2021 at 12:17 pm

      I love cookbooks and am on the constant lookout for new interesting ones. Love the look of these 2 unusual cakes. Going to look the book up. Thanks 🙂

      Reply
      • serena says

        June 12, 2021 at 1:56 pm

        This one is a good one 🙂 I definitely enjoyed it

        Reply
    4. Claudia Lamascolo says

      June 12, 2021 at 11:44 am

      I can't wait to try this delicious-looking bread! one of my all time favorite flavors congrats to a great cookbook recipe

      Reply
      • serena says

        June 12, 2021 at 11:54 am

        Thanks Claudia!

        Reply
    5. Jill says

      June 12, 2021 at 10:01 am

      Wow both these creations look fabulous. Definitely a cookbook I need to check out!

      Reply
      • serena says

        June 12, 2021 at 10:13 am

        Thanks Jill! It's definitely a great book 🙂

        Reply

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