Recipes By Claire Saffitz
46 recipes found
Bûche de Noël Cookies
These rolled cookies are inspired by chocolate rugelach but are sliced to look like mini Yule logs. Cacao nibs and coarse sugar finish the outside to give these tender treats a little bit of crunch. A dusting with powdered sugar is optional, but makes them look extra festive, like part of a snowy scene.
Cannoli
Although the filling for traditional Sicilian cannoli is made with sheep’s-milk ricotta, which is a little funkier and more complex than cow’s milk, it’s hard to find in the United States, so just look for the absolute best-quality whole-milk ricotta you can find (preferably one that’s locally made). The ingredients are fairly easy to find, but you will need some equipment for this recipe: a set of eight 5 1/2- to 6-inch cannoli molds, which you can easily purchase online.
Pumpkin Pie With Pepitas
Toasted, maple-coated pumpkin seeds baked directly on the surface of the filling gives otherwise one-note pumpkin pie a little bit of crunch. Thoroughly parbaking the crust before adding the custard as directed prevents a soggy bottom. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Caramelized Apple Pie
Like tarte Tatin, this pie combines the classic flavors of apples, butter, pastry and caramel, with no cinnamon or other warm spices needed. The filling is pre-roasted to draw out and concentrate the apple juices, ensuring soft, cooked fruit and a fully baked bottom crust in the finished pie. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Lemon Cream Pie With Honey and Ginger
A citrusy cousin of coconut cream and chocolate cream pies, this pie is filled with a lemon pudding that’s tart like curd but is also light, smooth and creamy at the same time. Infusing the filling with fresh ginger gives it a more autumnal flavor, but omit it you prefer. For the crust, make sure to use only very thin, very crisp, wafer-style gingersnaps, otherwise it will likely slump as it bakes. If you can’t find those, graham crackers work just as well. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Cranberry Cheesecake Tart
This easy cheesecake tart comes together in the food processor and bakes without a water bath. The key to the smooth texture of the filling is a very low oven, which means it bakes for a long time, so if you’re serving it on Thanksgiving, definitely bake it the day before to free up oven space. The shiny cranberry topping is made from unsweetened cranberry juice and whole cranberries that are just barely poached, so they preserve their bright, fresh flavor and satisfying pop. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Cranberry Sauce With Orange and Golden Raisins
This classic cranberry sauce, adapted from “Jambalaya,” a cookbook by the Junior League of New Orleans, is an ideal combination of tart, bitter and sweet flavors, with chewy bits of raisin and orange peel that provide much-needed textural contrast on the Thanksgiving table. A Saffitz family favorite, prepared every year by Claire Saffitz’s mother, Sauci, it keeps for weeks, so make it as far ahead as you like. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Caramelized Brussels Sprouts With Lemon
Separating the dark green outer leaves from the lighter green cores of brussels sprouts allows you to roast them so they’re both tender and crispy. Prep them ahead of time for an easy side dish. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Easy Thanksgiving Turkey
Roasting a Thanksgiving turkey can get complicated, but with so many other dishes to prepare, the best approach is to keep it simple and focus on sound technique, such as choosing a smaller bird, then thoroughly seasoning it, roasting it from room temperature so it cooks evenly and letting it rest sufficiently before slicing. It may not produce a burnished, show-stopping whole bird, but the results will be juicy, flavorful and never overcooked. If you need more servings, roast two birds. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Pecan Slab Pie
This tart layers toasted, sugared pecans over brown-buttery pecan cream, recreating the flavors of traditional pecan pie but with greater depth of flavor and a lot less sugar. To prevent the filling from puffing and pushing out the walls of the tart during baking, it’s baked inside a 9-by-13-inch pan. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Sausage and Leek Stuffing
Heavy cream is a nontraditional addition to Thanksgiving stuffing, but in combination with the stock and eggs, it lends a special custardy richness to this otherwise classic, no-frills recipe. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Flaky Pie Crust
This pie dough requires no special equipment but uses two techniques to produce an ultra-flaky and tender crust: first, bringing the dough together on the work surface with a bench scraper, which keeps it cool and prevents over-working, and second, stacking it in layers, which creates a flaky texture. You can double the recipe to make two crusts at a time, but know that you’ll need to work a little more quickly to prevent the butter from warming up. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Roasted Chicken Broth
This broth is designed to be made in the days before Thanksgiving, which is why it calls for turkey giblets and trim pieces in addition to wings. Roasting the vegetables and turkey bits imbues the broth with the flavors of roast turkey drippings, making it perfect for make-ahead white wine gravy. Don’t be alarmed if your chilled broth gelatinizes – that’s a sign you extracted lots of collagen, a mark of good broth. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Make-Ahead White Wine Gravy
A flavorful make-ahead gravy depends entirely on a concentrated stock, so try to use homemade rather than store-bought. And remember: Chilling the gravy before reheating it will cause it to thicken, so it’s a good idea to reserve a little bit of stock for thinning it out to the desired consistency before serving. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Smooth and Creamy Mashed Potatoes
This recipe uses a masher and a mixer instead of a ricer or food mill to make smooth and creamy mashed potatoes. As long as you don’t mix excessively, the potatoes will come out light, not gummy. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Chocolate Layer Cake
The texture of this oil-based chocolate cake strikes an ideal balance between dense and fudgy and light and fluffy. It’s ultratender thanks to cake flour. The frosting, a variation on German buttercream, uses a chocolate pudding base whipped with butter to create a complement to the cake that’s both rich and airy.
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
A few techniques produce these ultra-pillowy and lightly bready cinnamon rolls: The first is scalding the milk, which leads to improved gluten development in the dough; the second is cooking a portion of the liquid and the flour into a rouxlike mixture called a tangzhong, which, when added to the dough, increases its ability to hold onto liquid; and the third is a long, slow mix, which fully develops the gluten network and allows the buns to trap air as they bake in the oven.
Pistachio Macarons
Most of the pistachio flavor in these macarons comes from the filling, which contains pistachio spread (sometimes called pistachio cream), a sweetened mixture of ground pistachios and sugar. Look for it in specialty food stores or Italian grocers.
Chocolate Macarons
Chocolate macarons are beloved for a couple of reasons: First, the bitterness of cocoa and barely sweet ganache is a good foil for the sugariness of the meringue shells. Second, the cocoa in the batter masks any color the meringue might take on during baking, so there’s a wider margin of error for your oven temperature compared with other flavors.
Raspberry Macarons
Just a small quantity of pulverized freeze-dried raspberries in the batter of these macarons adds a surprising punch of tart fruitiness. Just know that it can also encourage the shells to brown rather quickly, so turn down your oven by about 25 degrees for the second batch if the first turns a little golden.
Classic Baguettes
Producing a classic baguette with a thin, shattering crust and tender, slightly sweet interior at home requires both practice and a few pieces of special equipment (see Tip) — using a scale is highly recommended — but it’s an incredibly rewarding process. For the greatest flexibility, start the recipe in the morning the day before you want to bake and refrigerate the dough overnight. You can bake the loaves at any point the next day.
Challah Bread
This challah recipe is ideal for first-time bread bakers, as it contains several checks and tests to indicate exactly when you’re ready to move on to the next step, minimizing the potential for failure. The biggest risk factor is underproofing, especially in a cool environment (the dough is temperature-sensitive), so for a light, silky loaf, make sure you give it sufficient time. If your oven has a proof setting, you can use it to speed up the process considerably. (Watch Claire make and braid this dough on YouTube.)
Strawberry and Cream Layer Cake
This delicate cake is inspired by fraisier, a French cake made from layers of sponge, strawberries and cream. Fraisier cakes are elaborately constructed and typically combine several components to make the cream filling, but this strawberry cake is lighter, looser and much more casual. To avoid squishing the cake when slicing, use a serrated knife in long, even strokes to cut clean slices. (Watch Claire make this cake and two others on YouTube.)
Raspberry and Cream Roulade
The exquisite combination of raspberries and cream is made even more so by the addition of this light, finely textured sponge cake. The cake should be chilled before serving to ensure it holds its shape. Because the sponge is oil-based rather than butter-based, it stays soft and flexible even when cold. (Watch Claire make this cake and two others on YouTube.)