Claire Saffitz (born 16 September 1986) is an American food writer, chef, and

YouTube personality A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 200 ...

. Until mid-2020, she was a contributing editor at ''

Bon Appétit ''Bon Appétit'' is a monthly American food and entertaining magazine, that typically contains recipes, entertaining ideas, restaurant recommendations, and wine reviews. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered at the One World Trade Center ...

'' magazine and starred in several series on the ''Bon Appétit''

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel, including '' Gourmet Makes'', in which she created

gourmet Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by their high level of refined and elaborate food preparation techniques and displays of balanced meals that have ...

versions of popular snack foods by

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them. Since leaving the company, she has published two cookbooks, ''Dessert Person'' and ''What's for Dessert'', which both became ''New York Times'' Best Sellers. She has continued work as a video host on her own YouTube channel and as a freelance recipe developer, including for ''New York Times'' Cooking.

Early life and education

Saffitz was born in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

to an

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

Jewish family. In the early 1900s, her great-grandfather emigrated to the United States from what was then

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

but is now

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; before emigrating, he worked as a baker. She attended Captain Elementary and graduated from Clayton High School in 2005. She went on to attend

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, graduating in 2009 with an AB in U.S. history and literature, then studied French cuisine and pastry at

École Grégoire-Ferrandi École Grégoire-Ferrandi is one of France's leading professional training schools located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, 6th arrondissement of Paris in a 25000 sq. m. site. Its culinary school is called École Supérieure de Cuisine Françai ...

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. After a four-month

externship Externships are experiential learning opportunities, similar to internships, provided by partnerships between educational institutions and employers to give students practical experiences in their field of study. In medicine, it may refer to a visi ...

at Spring Restaurant, Saffitz moved to

Montreal, Québec Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest in Canada, and the ninth-largest in North America. It was founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", and is now named after Mount Royal, the triple-peak ...

, where she received a

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

degree in history at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

in 2013, with a focus on French culinary history in the early modern era.

Career

At ''Bon Appétit'' (2013–2020)

Saffitz joined ''Bon Appétit'' in 2013, starting as a recipe tester and working her way up to being a senior food editor, where she remained until August 2018, when she left her full-time position at the magazine. She returned in November 2018 as a freelance recipe developer and video host. In July 2017, ''Gourmet Makes'' debuted, in which Saffitz attempted to recreate or elevate popular snack foods such as

Doritos Doritos () is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The concept for Doritos originated at Disneyland at a restaurant managed by Frito-Lay. In 1966, Doritos became the first ...

Twinkies The Twinkie is an American snack cake, described on its packaging as "golden sponge cake with a creamy filling". It was formerly made and distributed by Interstate Bakeries, Hostess Brands. The brand is currently owned by Hostess Brands, Hostess ...

, and Gushers. ''Gourmet Makes'' consistently trended on YouTube and developed a

cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...

on social media. Saffitz's work has been described as taking "junk food staples and...elevating them from their humble processed beginnings into wonders of

gastronomy Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between Human food, food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, the cooking styles of particular regions, and the science of good eating. One who is well ver ...

." In February 2019, ''Bon Appétit'' launched two new series that featured Saffitz: ''Bon Appétit’s Baking School'' and ''Making Perfect''. On January 22, 2020, Saffitz appeared on a cooking segment on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It i ...

''.

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 Brownface is a social phenomenon in which a white or light-skinned person attempts to portray themselves as a "brown" person of color, but less overtly and with a lighter complexion than traditional blackface. It is typically defined as a racis ...

resurfaced online and sparked widespread criticism. The company as a whole also received criticism after food editor Sohla El-Waylly accused the magazine and

Condé Nast Entertainment Condé Nast Entertainment (CNE) is a production and distribution studio with film, television, social and online video, and virtual reality content. CNE is headquartered at 1 World Trade Center. Background Previously, Condé Nast (CN) magazin ...

, 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. 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 renewing her contract. Saffitz's debut

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (food), course (appetize ...

, ''Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence'', was published by Clarkson Potter, an

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, on October 20, 2020. The book became a ''New York Times'' Best Seller, debuting at No. 2 on the "Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous" list for the week of November 8, 2020. In June 2021, the ''Dessert Person'' cookbook was nominated by the

International Association of Culinary Professionals The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) is a United States–based not-for-profit professional association whose members work in culinary education, communication, or the preparation of food and beverage. It was started in 19 ...

as a finalist in the annual

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s in the "Baking Sweet & Savory, Confections & Desserts" category and a nominee for the IACP

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (Birth name#Maiden and married names, née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for having brought French cuisine to the American pu ...

First Book Award, winning the latter in October 2021. In December 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. In January 2021, Saffitz started contributing to

NYT Cooking ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, including being featured on their YouTube channel. In May 2021, Saffitz made another appearance on ''The Tonight Show''. Claire's second cookbook, titled ''What's for Dessert: Simple Recipes for Dessert People'' was released on November 8, 2022. It also became a ''New York Times'' Best Seller. In April 2024, Claire launched a new series on her YouTube channel titled ''Claire Recreates'', which serves as a conceptual successor to ''Gourmet Makes''.

Personal life

As of March 2020, Saffitz lived with her husband, Cornell Hotel School alum and fellow chef Harris Mayer-Selinger, on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The couple also own a home in

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

, which they purchased in late 2020. In December 2024, she announced that she was pregnant with their first child together.

References

External links

Official website

Official YouTube Channel

Claire Saffitz
at ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Saffitz, Claire 1986 births Chefs from New York City The Harvard Crimson people Living people McGill University alumni Pastry chefs Writers from St. Louis American women chefs American Ashkenazi Jews Bon Appétit people Chefs from Missouri 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women American people of Russian-Jewish descent American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent YouTubers from St. Louis YouTubers from Manhattan