Claire Saffitz

Claire Saffitz (born 1986) is an American pastry chef, food writer, and YouTube personality. Until mid-2020, she was a contributing editor at Bon Appétit magazine and starred in several series on the Bon Appétit YouTube channel. Her best-known series was Gourmet Makes, in which she created gourmet versions of popular snack foods by reverse engineering them. Since leaving the company, she has published a cookbook, Dessert Person, which became a New York Times Best Seller, and continues work as a video host on her own YouTube channel and as a freelance recipe developer.

Claire Saffitz
Born1986 (age 34–35)[1]
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Education
Spouse(s)
Harris Mayer-Selinger
​
​
(m. 2020)​
YouTube information
Websitedessertperson.com
Channel
Years active2020 - Present
GenreCooking
Subscribers567+ thousand
Total views6.2+ million
100,000 subscribers 2020
Updated: January 18, 2021

Early life and education

Saffitz was born in 1986 in St. Louis, Missouri, to an Ashkenazi Jewish family.[1][4][5] She graduated from Clayton High School in 2005.[6] She went on to attend Harvard University, graduating in 2009 with a BA in U.S. history and literature, then studied French cuisine and pastry at École Grégoire-Ferrandi in Paris, France. After a four-month externship at Spring Restaurant, Saffitz moved to Montreal, Québec, where she received a master's degree in History at McGill University in 2013, with a focus on French culinary history in the early modern era.[2][3][7][8][9]

Career

At Bon Appétit (2013–2020)

Saffitz joined Bon Appétit in 2013, where she worked as a senior food editor until August 2018.[10] She returned in November 2018 as a freelance recipe developer and video host.[11]

In July 2017, Gourmet Makes debuted, in which Saffitz attempted to recreate or elevate popular snack foods such as Doritos, Twinkies, and Gushers.[12][1] Gourmet Makes consistently trended on YouTube and developed a cult following on social media.[13] Saffitz's work has been described as taking "junk food staples and...elevating them from their humble processed beginnings into wonders of gastronomy."[14]

In February 2019, Bon Appétit launched two new series that featured Saffitz: Bon Appétit’s Baking School and Making Perfect.[15][16][17]

On January 22, 2020, Saffitz appeared on a cooking segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[18]

Departure and continued career (2020–present)

On June 8, 2020, Adam Rapoport resigned as editor-in-chief of Bon Appétit after a photo of him in brownface resurfaced online and sparked widespread criticism.[19] The company as a whole also received criticism after food editor Sohla El-Waylly accused the magazine and Condé Nast Entertainment, which produces the videos on the Bon Appétit YouTube channel, of discriminating against employees of color, claiming they were subject to lesser pay than their non-minority counterparts.[20][21] Amidst these circumstances, Saffitz announced she had not been under contract with the company since May 2020 and that she would be reevaluating her relationship with Bon Appétit. In October 2020, she formally announced she would not be returning to the company's YouTube channel.[22][23]

Saffitz's debut cookbook, Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence, was published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House, on October 20, 2020.[24][8][25]

In December of 2020, Saffitz launched her own YouTube channel, beginning with a focus on demonstrating recipes from her book, Dessert Person. The channel is produced by Vincent Cross, formerly of Bon Appétit, who also worked on the Binging with Babish YouTube channel.[26]

In January of 2021, Saffitz started being featured on NYT Cooking's YouTube channel.[27]

Personal life

Saffitz lives with her husband, fellow chef Harris Mayer-Selinger, in the Upper West Side neighborhood of New York City.[10][28]

References
  1. Sung, Morgan (July 13, 2019). "Pastry chef Claire Saffitz attempts to explain what it's like to be the internet's crush". Mashable. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  2. "About Claire". Claire Saffitz. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  3. Saffitz, Claire (2013). "Constructing the Politics of Cookery: Authorial Strategy and Domestic Politics in English Cookery Books, 1655-1670". Cuizine: The Journal of Canadian Food Cultures. 4 (2). doi:10.7202/1019318ar. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  4. "You Can Thank The Election For Claire Saffitz's Trademark Hair". Into The Gloss. 2019-06-17. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
  5. Saffitz, Claire. "Gefilte Fish: The Myth, the Challenge, and the Recipe You Can Actually Make". Bon Appetit. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
  6. "10 Questions with Claire Saffitz ('05)". www.claytoneducationfoundation.org.
  7. "Meet Senior Associate Food Editor Claire Saffitz". Bon Appetit. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  8. Gayla, Marella. "Meet Claire Saffitz, the Internet's favorite pastry chef - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Boston Globe. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  9. "Behind-the-Scenes Conversation with the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen - 92Y, New York". 92Y. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  10. Crowley, Chris (8 February 2019). "Pastry Chef Claire Saffitz Is 'Always in the Mood to Eat'". Grub Street. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  11. "Pastry Chef Attempts to Make Gourmet Sno Balls". Youtube. Bon Appetit. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  12. "Gourmet Makes". Bon Appétit Videos.
  13. Preston, Hannah (June 20, 2019). "Bon Appétit 'Gourmet Makes' Series: 40-Minute Videos Viewers Rarely Skip Through is Creating a Cult Following". Newsweek. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  14. Baxter, Hannah. "In the Kitchen with Claire Saffitz". Coveteur. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  15. "Bon Appétit, Now on Your TV". Bon Appétit. Condé Nast. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  16. "'Bon Appétit' YouTube Series Expands Into a Streaming Service—But Will Its Audience Follow?". Observer. 25 February 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  17. "What Makes the Perfect Thanksgiving Meal? | Making Perfect: Thanksgiving - Prologue | Bon Appétit". YouTube. Conde Nast. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  18. "Bon Appétit's Claire Saffitz Challenges Jimmy to a Layer Cake-Decorating Contest". YouTube. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  19. "Instagram post by Adam Rapoport • Jun 8, 2020 at 11:21pm UTC". Instagram. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
  20. Alexandra Steigrad (2020-06-08). "Bon Appétit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport called to resign over brownface photo". New York Post. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
  21. Severson, Kim (8 June 2020). "Bon Appétit Editor Adam Rapoport Resigns". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  22. Alter, Rebecca (6 October 2020). "Claire Saffitz Gourmet Makes Her Exit From the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen". Vulture. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  23. Jackson, Sharyn. "Claire Saffitz talks about her Minnesota influence and her post-Bon Appetit plans". Star Tribune. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  24. "Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  25. Saffitz, Claire. "Claire Saffitz on Instagram: "I am beyond proud and excited to share the cover of my first book Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence, and to…"". Instagram. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  26. Saffitz, Claire. "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  27. "NYT Cooking". NYT Cooking.
  28. Beggs, Alex. "Sing Alongs and Tagalongs: What Goes Down on the Set of Gourmet Makes". Bon Appétit. Retrieved 17 March 2020. She’s been [...] planning a wedding.
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