dessert people: one woman's homage to Claire Saffitz
From December 21, 2020-January 14, 2021, I will be pursuing a baking project inspired by Julie & Julia (dir. Nora Ephron, 2009).
In this classic film, an average woman named Julie, who has recently moved into a Queens apartment with her (husband? fiance? idk—as domestic partners go in this movie, Chris Messina’s character was far overshadowed by Stanley Tucci), attempts to cook every recipe from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and blogs her way through the journey.
In my version, I am the average woman, and I will be attempting to bake a recipe from the cookbook Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz, released in October 2020, roughly everyday on weekdays. Substack is my blog, and my recent move was not to Queens but to a remote part of Washington State where I am with my mother and our cat Dot. Claire Saffitz, obviously, is Julia Child.
Answers to Some Questions (this will be the longest post I ever do)
Why are you doing this?
I anticipate that the next month(s) will bring periods of sadness and loneliness, during which I may not be my best self in terms of reaching out to loved ones or giving space to my bad feelings.
This project is meant to help with that in three ways:
1) giving me something to do everyday,
2) producing something nice to eat everyday, and most importantly
3) helping me feel connected to my lovely friends out there all over the world, who even if we do not talk everyday I will always love to hear from, and who hopefully will like hearing from me/will remember that I exist through this blog!
This project is extremely referentially specific. For example, the movie on which you have based the entire premise came out over 11 years ago and was by no means a blockbuster.
I think you’ll find all the contextual exposition you need in the carefully sourced links in my introductory paragraphs.
You are vegan.
Yes, I am going to veganize any Dessert Person recipes I make and explain how I did it in my posts!
What do Claire Saffitz and “Dessert Person” mean to you?
Allow me to start by sharing other, better writers’ takes on this subject.
In the praise-blurbs for Dessert Person, renowned musician Questlove says:
Dessert is last in a meal but first in many people’s hearts. It also, beneath the sweetness, requires a sophisticated mix of time management, architectural thinking, visual seduction, and unexpected restraint. . . Claire Saffitz has all of that, and more.
Claire Saffitz writes on page 12 of Dessert Person:
Identifying as a dessert person isn’t just about a love of baking and pastry and all things sweet. To me, it’s an attitude; it’s about embracing cooking and eating as fundamental sources of pleasure.
~why claire saffitz~
I have always loved Claire and been inspired by her talent, confidence, unpretentiousness, intelligence, love for baking, and her obvious beauty (I know she is married and I respect it, let’s not talk about it anymore though).
When Claire and others departed from Conde Nast Entertainment’s Bon Appetit Youtube channel over the summer, it was clearly the right thing to do, even though many people would dearly miss their Claire Saffitz content. I didn’t really allow myself to acknowledge that I was one of those people until a few weeks ago, when Claire launched her Dessert Person Youtube. I dove eagerly into her first full video on Soft and Crispy Foccaccia, only to find myself overcome with tears a few minutes in.
After many dark, difficult months where the absence of Claire was one item on an ever-expanding list of sadnesses, I was surprised by how purely uplifted and also emotional I felt watching Claire bake once more. With her respect for food, casual expertise, and appreciation of the inevitable imperfections of home baking and cooking, Claire has brought a meaningful ray of light into many people’s lives. I hope to honor that with this project!
~being a dessert person~
Claire has noted that to her, the identity of dessert person goes far beyond having a sweet tooth. I am also compelled by the idea of “dessert person” as an attitude toward food and life; one of never ceasing to anticipate the sweet things that will one day arrive, after even the most incomprehensible, interminable, terrible course(s) of events.
2020’s intensely simultaneous catastrophes have, for me, eclipsed passive joy much more completely than ever before. Now, to feel delight requires highly intentional choices that I have framed as purposeful forgetting. I choose, momentarily, to pull the shades on the devastation occurring all around me and my participation in it, and to not think about the isolation and guilt that always await on the other side.
But I hope to look at Dessert Person and this project as a way to invert that lens and be happy not in forgetting all that is awful, but remembering what remains wonderful and accessible to me (and what a privilege those things are!) even when I am alone and melancholy. Warm smells, writing things that have nothing to do with school, getting high and baking mediocre versions of Claire Saffitz’s recipes, and sharing stories about all of that with between 2-10 friends (two people have pledged to become subscribers, so you two better follow through). These things will bring me joy, and you being a part of it, if you so desire, will too! Thanks for reading!
i cannot stress how excited i am for this
! a fantastically fun introductory post! i am a Satisfied Subscriber!!!!