Claire Saffitz Is Someone We Really Like
by The Candidly Team
This article is part of our series called "People We Like," in which we highlight interesting women, across all walks of life.
Leaders, great cooks, doctors, parents, writers; people who inspire us.
Today, we’re highlighting Claire Saffitz. You know Claire. You’ve probably binged her baking videos on Youtube, and spotted her on the NYTimes Cooking Channel, teaching us how to make a beautiful sourdough at home. Or you bought her cookbook, Dessert Person, flipped through it ravenously, and then attempted to recreate the world’s most perfect blood orange olive oil cake pictured on the cover (no, just us?).
Usually, we try to keep these to 19 questions. But Claire’s answers were so good, we had to include all of them.
The Candidly Questionnaire
1. What’s your most compelling quality?
I’ve developed fairly high emotional intelligence from years of talk therapy, so I can pretty clearly understand people’s relationships to their own thoughts and feelings.
2. What’s your worst quality, according to your friends?
I can be non-communicative and a little absent at times. I get overwhelmed easily, and when that happens, I tend to shut down.
3. What’s an overrated value you don’t buy into?
Honesty, as far as it’s used to justify pettiness or cruelty.
4. What is the single greatest baking hack for anyone who can't realllllyy bake?
Buy good quality chocolate, farmer’s market fruit, and real vanilla and make something simple like brownies or a fruit crisp. You can’t mess up good ingredients too much.
5. How do you feel about cilantro?
Love cilantro! The more the better, especially the stems.
6. Are essential oils anything?
They quite possibly are, but they seriously irritate my skin so I can’t use them. But I love aromatherapy!
7. What's the most effective beauty trick you know?
I think a groomed brow and a little highlighter go a long way. I’ve also settled on an effective skincare regimen that includes acids, which really work.
8. How do you get your self-esteem?
I remind myself that I have a strong sense of ethics and empathy toward others, and even if I don’t act perfectly all the time, it’s enough.
9. What's a baked good that feels gourmet but is deceptively easy to make, even for beginners?
Something like Eton mess, a dish made of strawberries, whipped cream, and meringue is dead simple when you use store-bought meringues, and it’s a perfect, elegant, crazy-good dessert. Panna cotta is also deceptively simple to make.
10. What’s your favorite item of clothing you own?
I bought a beautiful dress that I planned to get married in, but Covid changed that plan and I never got to wear it. It’s sitting in my closet and I love just to admire it.
11. What's your favorite recipe to cook for an intimate date night? What about a large dinner party? What about when you really want to impress someone?
Generally speaking, regardless of the guest list when entertaining, I tend to focus on executing simple classics like a shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, and roast chicken at a high level, since these kinds of dishes will always be more impressive and satisfying than something super elaborate or esoteric.
I never want food to feel pretentious or exclusive.
12. How do you handle conflict in your closest relationships?
I’m naturally somewhat conflict avoidant, so it’s hard for me. I am learning that confrontation can be healthy and productive, especially if the goal is less about being right and more about deepening an understanding of one another.
13. What’s something you’ve changed your mind about in the last year?
My priorities have shifted significantly in the past year, and I no longer feel like my work is paramount. I’d like to work less in the future.
14. What's one secret ingredient you add to recipes that completely transforms them?
Seeds from a fresh vanilla bean will always, always elevate a recipe.
15. Who is someone in your field of work that you admire?
I have long admired the work of Ayako Kurokawa, a baker and artist. Her aesthetic is unique and so beautiful.
16. What Insta account speaks to you deeply?
I love and appreciate the disciplines of design and architecture, so accounts like The World of Interiors bring me so much delight. The ability to transform a space feels like a superpower to me.
17. For those of us who are, how do we say, “scared of dough,” are we bad cooks if we just get store-bought?
There’s no shame in relying on store-bought ingredients or taking a shortcut, although I think there are some ways of doing it that are better than others.
18. What quote or phrase has stayed with you?
A very wise friend once told me: never give someone a story to tell about you.
19. What's a recipe you recently discovered that you miiigghhtt have to add to your next cookbook?
I tend to get more inspired by ingredients than recipes, and after learning how delicious guava is in the past few years I started working with guava paste. The flavor is incredible and pairs so well with so many other ingredients.
20. What’s your favorite movie from the last ten years?
I love movies that imagine entirely different and unique worlds, like Arrival and Mad Max Fury Road.
21. What’s the most delicious bite of food you’ve ever had?
There have been so many, but one stands out: a warm apple tart from Poilâne in Paris.
22. What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned about yourself as a leader?
I am still figuring out my leadership style -- check back with me in a few years.
23. What's your go-to easy, whip-up-in-like-8-minutes weeknight recipe that you always come back to?
I am a tremendous pasta lover, so I make lots of quick pastas with random veg from the fridge or freezer, garlic or shallots, olive oil, and anything else I can find. It takes longer than 8 minutes, but not much. I also pan fry a lot of frozen dumplings.
24. Is social media ruining our brains?
Yes, it probably is, or at least changing them dramatically. Social media is such a slippery slope, and I frequently find myself using it in ways that don’t serve me.
25. What are your single favorite kitchen products in these categories?
Knife: I prefer a cheap but decent quality knife by Victorinox. I’m not a knife geek at all.
Cutting Board: A sturdy wooden board by John Boos.
Mixing bowls: The simplest set of wide stainless nesting bowls you find at any restaurant supply store (I think the brand is Winco?).
Baking dish: Not particular, although I have a nice white porcelain one by Revol that has stood the test of time.
Serving platter: I love all tabletop stuff from Schoolhouse and Revival.
Spatula set: Something flexible and heatproof, though I do like exoglass ones as well.
Whisk: Anything stainless steel.
26. Describe your actual bedtime routine.
I don’t have an elaborate bedtime routine. I wash my face with a gentle cleanser (twice if I was wearing makeup), then I apply a night serum and a face oil. I get in bed and read until I fall asleep, which usually takes 90 seconds.
27. What’s your relationship with bangs?
Had bangs as a kid and never again!
What is your single favorite:
Wellness product that *actually* works: A silk pillowcase.
Lip balm: Aesop Rosehip Seed Lip Cream.
Jeans brand: Levi’s.
Mascara: CoverGirl Lash Blast.
Sweats: Entire World or Hanes.
Last minute gift: Flowers, a bottle of sparkling wine, or Amaro.
Bra: Natori.
Shampoo: Verb Ghost.
Comfortable shoes: Dansko clogs or Birkenstocks.
Splurge skincare: Biologique Recherche P50.
Drugstore skincare: Thayer’s Witch Hazel toner.
Everyday bag: Kara leather backpack.
Guilty-pleasure TV show: Below Deck.
Drink: French 75.
At The Candidly, we recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love. Sometimes, our friends recommend their favorite things, too. All details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
We have to eat.
