Everyone can be a dessert person according to Claire Saffitz. In her cookbook titled “Dessert Person,” she presents a variety of baking projects that she ranks by time and difficulty level. A simple honey almond syrup that takes only 5 minutes and requires you to put all of the ingredients in a jar, to the spelt croissants that take upwards of 12 hours and require many tedious and complicated steps to get the perfect level of flakiness.

At the beginning of the cookbook, you can find what Saffitz has called the “Recipe Matrix.” It contains every recipe in the book organized on a chart of total time to make and level of difficulty.

“Within each chapter, the recipes are ordered according to difficulty level, starting with the easiest and ending with the hardest,” Saffitz’s wrote.

The book in its entirety is a perfectionist’s dream organization-wise — there are step by step instructions for everything in this book, such as how to fill a pastry bag or line a loaf pan. Individual recipes will sometimes require a recipe of a different baked good like brioche dough, and at the top of the page, you will find what page you need to go to in order to find the separate recipe. It feels a little bit like a treasure hunt trying to find what recipes go in other ones.

When I attempted to make the Tarte Tropézienne (basically a brioche and pastry cream sandwich), the recipe required me to make brioche dough, pastry cream, and simple honey almond syrup — three little side adventures for one recipe! I would consider myself an intermediate baker, so when I do attempt level four or five difficulty desserts I try to give myself another hour of wiggle room from what the recipe estimates. Whether you’re someone just trying baking for the first time or an experienced baker that could probably run their own patisserie, this book has something for you to bake in your skill level.

My other favorite thing about “Dessert Person” is her note on “Seasonality” and “Sustainability.” To summarize, she urges bakers to bake her recipes in the appropriate season. For example, she encourages baking cherry pie in the summertime because that’s when cherries naturally grow.

“Not only does baking with the seasons make for a more mindful and vibrant practice, it’s also friendlier towards the environment,” Saffitz writes.

She also urges bakers to reduce the use of single-use baking items such as:

• plastic wrap
• parchment paper
• aluminum foil
• pastry bags
• paper towels

While, yes, the cookbook is called “Dessert Person,” there is also an entire section devoted to savory baking. It contains mostly different styles of bread with special twists added on, such as the honey tahini challah or miso buttermilk biscuits.

Lastly, the pictures of the desserts Saffitz has in the book are possibly the most pleasant thing to look at. Her photos are simple and showcase the most appetizing part of the dessert. When there is produce in the photo, the colors always pop against the background.

No matter your experience with baking, “Dessert Person” is a great investment to make in your baking journey!