Dessert Person with Claire Saffitz Season 9, Episode 5: Canelés

The Most Delicious Blueberry Pie

The conventional wisdom is that it’s too hot to bake in summertime, but that’s exactly when Claire’s baking goes into overdrive, turning all the seasonal fruit into jammy, buttery, crisp-crusted pies. For a superior ratio of crust to filling, though, give slab pie a try, specifically this Blueberry Slab Pie. The filling comes together quickly using frozen blueberries, so you can make it any time of the year, and it’s baked in Made In’s beautiful and hyper-functional porcelain baking slab, which is thermal-shock resistant and can go from freezer to oven to table.

The Best Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Pineapple Upside Down Cake is a an oldie but a goodie, and with just a few upgrades – like adding browned butter to the cake, swapping in fresh pineapple for canned, and perfuming the whole thing with good dark rum – it becomes a remarkably delicious and complex dessert. It looks impressive but comes together in one skillet. Check out this episode for Claire’s take on the classic as well as SNEAK PEAK AT WHAT’S FOR DESSERT, Claire’s new book due out Nov. 8th

Peach Cobbler

Introducing on the Dessert Person YouTube channel, the inaugural recipe from Claire’s new book, What’s For Dessert. It’s an easy but carefully crafted recipe that honors one of the pure joys of late summer: ripe peaches. This is the peach cobbler of your dreams, featuring a fluffy and tender biscuit topping (with none of that squidgy, under-baked layer of dough underneath) and a silky bed of lightly sweetened peaches that’s neither gloopy nor watery.

Baked Alaska

Baked Alaska, consisting of molded ice cream set atop a sponge cake base and covered in toasted meringue, is not exactly a simple dessert, but there are ways to make it simpler: definitely use store-bought ice cream, assemble it in stages, and rely on your oven to do the work. In this episode, Claire shows you a summery, strawberry-laced, individualized spin on Baked Alaska using her new KitchenAid Smart Oven.

Easy Ice Cream Sundae Bombe

Chocolate Coupes

Drinking out of—or even just holding—a coupe glass makes me feel ritzy and Gatsby- esque, so I love that a coupe isn’t just for gimlets or champagne; it’s also a category of dessert (often involving ice cream and fruit, but just as often not—it’s a little vague). I knew "What's For Dessert" needed a homey, straightforward chocolate pudding that was delicious enough to be served all on its own, but I felt like dressing it up into a fancier, celebration-worthy dessert, so I layer it with cookies and cream in coupe glasses. Intermingled with the pudding, the chocolate wafers and whipped cream (which, together, recall the classic “refrigerator roll” on the box of Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers—a dessert I love) make a texturally varied and balanced dessert. The coupe glasses make it a party!

The Ultimate Dinner Platter - Grand Aioli

This episode of Dessert Person Dinners brings you a breezy, veg-forward dinner that requires one saucepan, a bowl, and minimal cooking overall. It’s called Le Grand Aioli, a southern French dish consisting of cooked and raw vegetables, creamy potatoes, boiled eggs, and shrimp or seafood served with the most delicious dip of all time, aioli. This dish proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that very few things cannot be improved by the addition of garlicky, tangy mayonnaise. This dinner is on repeat all year long in Claire’s house, but especially in spring and summer when all the good veg is available. It’s the perfect intersection of good and easy.