Why Claire Saffitz Doesn't Think You Need A Stand-Up Mixer When Baking - Exclusive

Claire Saffitz is the dessert person to know. Between her YouTube channel, "Desert Person with Claire Saffitz," and her two cookbooks devoted to everything sweet, this chef knows what it takes to whip up the best darn pie crust or berry cobbler.

What's also great about Saffitz is how candid she is about the equipment you need (and don't need) in the kitchen when baking. While she may always have a ruler and tape on hand to measure something on the fly when baking, you won't likely see her with any fancy molds or a high-powered blender. "I have a Vitamix at home, but I don't use it that often," she said. "I will only use it for smoothies, but not in pastry and baking."

During an exclusive interview with Tasting Table, Saffitz explained why you may not always need extravagant equipment in the kitchen when baking, including a high-priced stand mixer, when you can just as easily use your hands.

Claire Saffitz used the feedback she received from her previous cookbook, "Dessert Person" — which included more elaborate desserts — to help guide her on creating more approachable recipes in her latest "What's for Dessert: Simple Recipes for Dessert People."

"What I heard — which is not that surprising — was that people wanted more streamlined, simple stuff," she said. "I feel like I delivered with this book. In some ways, it made it a lot more challenging to develop these recipes. It's hard to do simple stuff and to produce that volume of streamlined recipes. I pushed myself a lot to foreground accessibility and approachability in the recipes. You don't need a stand mixer for any of them; a lot of them are completely makeable entirely by hand."

Don't think Saffitz skipped on using a stand mixer just for this recipe book. That is one piece of kitchen equipment that is not her go-to. 

"I don't get out my stand mixer very often," she admitted. "There's certain things you have to use it for [when] there's no way to achieve the thing you want to achieve by hand, but that's relatively rare. I don't think it's a necessary item. That's more of a luxury item, and that's why the book doesn't require it."

"What's for Dessert: Simple Recipes for Dessert People" is in stores November 8. See what else Claire Saffitz is baking by following her on Instagram.