Gourmet Makes - Season 1

Bon Appetit's Senior Food Editor and pastry chef Claire Saffitz attempts to make a gourmet Twinkie without the hard-to-pronounce chemical ingredients. The first test is Genoise cake, an Italian sponge cake. For the creamy filling, Claire uses 7 minute frosting. The second test is yellow cake and buttercream filling. Next comes chiffon cake, a light cake that uses vegetable oil. Finally, with some help from Test Kitchen Manager Brad Leone, Claire decides to "Frankenstein" the recipe.

Do you gush with curiosity over little, chewable sugar blobs filled with goo? Claire Saffitz deconstructs and improves one of our favorite childhood candies - Gourmet Gushers!

You love Cheetos. But do you know how to make them? Pastry chef Claire Saffitz goes on a 3-day experiment to make and improve on Gourmet Cheetos!

Some nibble away at the chocolate shell first; others may split the wafers apart before eating. They may have their preferences, but what what they may not know is their routines help to reverse engineer what it takes to make one in the first place. Claire Saffitz is up to the challenge to make Gourmet Kit Kats!

Claire Saffitz takes on another challenge, this time to recreate the tastes of the rainbow... Skittles, Gourmet-style.

Everyone loves Lucky Charms! Watch Claire's attempt to recreate your favorite childhood cereal.

What makes the oreo the king of the cookie? Claire attempts to find out as she makes a gourmet version of the greatest sandwich cookie of all time.

Twizzlers come in just about every flavor under the sun, but Claire only has one goal in mind: make a gourmet version of everyone's favorite. That's right -- the original, cherry-ish flavored Twizzler.

Sno Balls. Baby boomers will remember this post-World War II junk food favorite. Claire Saffitz returns to the Test Kitchen to try her hand at making gourmet Sno Balls.

Claire. Is. Back. AGAIN. And this time she is attempting to make gourmet instant ramen. Everybody loves instant ramen, with its ludicrously salty, umami-rich spice packets and its impossibly wavy fried noodle bricks. Can Claire make a fancy version of this 70%-of-your-daily-sodium snack?

Nougat. Caramel. Peanuts. Chocolate. The building blocks of a Snickers bar. Each taken alone is simple enough (well maybe not the nougat), but together they become a different monster. Join Claire Saffitz as she attempts to make a gourmet version of a Snickers bar!

Pringles. They're the miraculously not greasy potato chips that come in a tube. They're also the original duck face. Join Claire Saffitz as she attempts to make a gourmet version of Pringles! And lest we forget: once you pop the fun don't stop.

Ok, so Ferrero Rocher chocolates are pretty gourmet already. We get it. But couldn't they be even more gourmet? Join Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make a gourmet-ier version of Ferrero Rocher, everybody's favorite Italian, hazelnut-filled chocolates.

Reese's Pieces, Reese's Miniature Cups, Reese's Sticks, Reese's Big Cups, Reese's Big Cups Stuffed with Crunchy Cookie, Reese's Big Cups Stuffed with Reese's Pieces(!), Reese's Pumpkins and a million other Reese's variants. But there shall only be one Reese's product that Claire gourmet-izes: the classic Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Join Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make a gourmet version of Reese's.

Cheez-Its are that snack that your parents let you eat as a kid because they're not chips and therefore must be healthy, right? Join Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make a gourmet version of everybody's favorite quadrilateral, cheesy crackers: Cheez-Its.

It's that time of year again when peeps are on the menu. Peeps, those little birds full of cushiony marshmallow and coasted with the sugariest of colored sugar, come in all shapes and colors. Join Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make a gourmet version of peeps!!!

Grated coconut may not be everybody's cup of tea, but there is no denying that this candy is an absolute classic. In this episode, Claire Saffitz attempts to make a gourmet version of Almond Joys, that almond, coconut and chocolate Halloween staple.

Nacho cheese exists in two states: the melted cheese state and the powdered cheese state. When it comes to the powdered cheese state, all pale in comparison to Nacho Cheese Doritos, continually perfected by science and consistently beloved by the masses since 1972. Join pastry chef Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to take Nacho Cheese Doritos to the next level and make them gourmet.

Twix. They've been at the heart of a debate that goes back more than five decades. Lines have been drawn so intractable that friendships, relationships, even nations have been ruined. Who could forget the Great Twix Battle between the UK and Finland in 1984? No, we're not speaking of the Left vs. Right debate. We're talking about the Conflict of Classification that rages to this day. The age old debate: is Twix candy or cookie? Out of respect for those who came before, we will not take a position. Instead, join Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make a gourmet version of Twix that can hopefully bring peace to this conflict.

What does your favorite Starburst say about you? Red: Life is about power and you will stop at nothing to exert your influence over others. Be careful, because red Starbursts are in short supply and pursuing them is a lonely path. Pink: Compassion is at the center of your life. Make sure that you're not too generous or you'll end up with no pink Starbursts for yourself. Orange: This flavor is not bad. If you like it, that's good. Yellow: Some people call you quirky, others say you're eccentric. You go through life trying to fit the square piece into the round hole. But that's ok, because there will always be lots of yellow Starbursts for you to eat.

Witness the crackling confection taking the world by storm! They're carbonation made solid. That's right folks, they're a modern marvel made to modify your mouth, a sensational symphony of splendid snaps and sparkles soothing your senses and sent straight to your stomach. And now for the first time ever, we present gourmet Pop Rocks, the product of a perfect marriage of scientific ingenuity and culinary craft, made by the clever and creative Claire Saffitz!

Join pastry chef Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make gourmet strawberry Pop-Tarts.

Claire Saffitz had never had Pocky before. And then one day in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen her life changed forever. Her eyes are open and now she has ascended to Pocky level: Tsubu Tsubu (Strawberry Flakes), a level that it usually takes decades to reach. With her work in making a gourmet version of four flavors of Pocky - Chocolate, Matcha, Cookies & Cream and Strawberry Flakes - she is quickly climbing ever upwards in the Pocky Movement. Join Claire as she seeks Pocky Perfection.

Join Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make a gourmet version of everybody's favorite chocolate candy that melts in your mouth, not your hand: M&M's!

Join Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make a gourmet version of Hot Pockets!

Join Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make a gourmet version of Sour Patch Kids!

How do they make those perfect rrridges in Ruffles? Well, that's the question Claire has to answer, isn't it? Join Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make gourmet Ruffles.

Takis are rolled up tortilla chips of surprising intensity. After making gourmet Doritos, Claire was pretty confident she could make gourmet Takis in just one day, but the length of this video might say otherwise. Anyway, join Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make a gourmet version of Takis.

Alright, look. We're warning you now. Don't mix Mentos and Coke at home unless you want to spend way too long cleaning up afterwards. Anyway, making Mentos should be just like making Skittles, right? So this shouldn't take too long... hmm.

We bought the Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the beginning of the video at Penn Station. Normally, we'd advise you to never ingest anything that has at any point entered or left Penn Station (for your health and safety), but we always make an exception for Krispy Kreme. And this is solely because there is only one Krispy Kreme location in New York City. Join Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make a gourmet version of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

How many of you experience sense memory when you think about eating Warheads when you were kids? You know, that sour feeling on the back of your tastebuds? Well, pastry chef Claire Saffitz is setting out to recreate that sensation as she attempts to make gourmet Warheads.

Who else could replicate and gourmet-ize everybody's favorite chocolaty, caramely and nougaty candy bar other than our very own Claire Saffitz? Join her in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make gourmet Milky Way bars.

Gooey inside, crispy outside. That's a pizza roll. (Also, burning the heck out of the roof of your mouth). Join Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make gourmet Totino's Pizza Rolls.

If Chris is the undisputed Test Kitchen super-taster, then Gaby is easily the jelly bean super-taster. Seriously, how did she guess Dr. Pepper? Impossible! Anyway, join pastry chef (and can we call her The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon co-host?) Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make gourmet Jelly Belly jelly beans. This episode is 48 minutes long, so grab a stress ball and tuck in. 

So maybe this episode is a bit like Ferrero Rocher, in which Claire gourmetized an already gourmet treat. But what is wrong gourmetizing that which is already gourmet? Nothing, we say! Join Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make gourmet Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

What do you think? Should Brad join Claire on Gourmet Makes more often? Just think about how differently all of the gourmet snacks would have come out: fermented M&Ms, dry-aged Peeps, campfire Cheetos. Anyway, in this episode, join pastry chef Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make gourmet Butterfingers.

While we have a list of ingredients, nobody really knows how Combos are made. There is little to no information about Combos on the internet, which begs the question: what are they hiding? But not to worry, pastry chef Claire Saffitz is on the case! Join her as she attempts to unpack this mystery and make gourmet Combos!

In middle school, pastry chef Claire Saffitz basically subsisted on an all-Bagel Bite diet. But will she like them as an adult or is the magic gone? As Alex Delany puts it, they're not good, but you still want more. Join Claire in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make a gourmet version of her childhood go-to, Bagel Bites.

Join Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make gourmet Thin Mints, Samoas and Tagalongs. That's right, Claire's making Girl Scout Cookies. Did you know the Girl Scouts started selling cookies back in 1917? But it wasn't until 1951 that the Thin Mint, the cookie most synonymous with the Girl Scouts, was introduced and swept the country like a tidal wave. And now here we are, in the Test Kitchen, watching Claire make them herself. What a time to be alive. 

Brad Leone and Chris Morocco are back for another episode of Gourmet Makes. This time, these two guys who have always hosted and always will host Gourmet Makes are attempting to make a gourmet version of Andes Crème De Menthe. Strangely, one of our editors had the idea that Claire Saffitz had always been the host of Gourmet Makes though they couldn't point to a single episode that Claire had hosted. As we all know, Chris and Brad ARE Gourmet Makes.

Join pastry chef Claire Saffitz in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make gourmet Cadbury Creme Eggs. These are the only eggs that rabbits are known to lay (at least that's what Cadbury commercials tell us). However, Claire will try to make these Easter classics without the aid of a bunny. 

Pastry chef Claire Saffitz's love for tater tots can't be overstated. Seriously, we tried to overstate it and couldn't come up with anything. The woman loves her tots. But can she take their perfection to a new level? Join Claire in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as she attempts to make gourmet tater tots.

Who's ready for another culinary adventure? Join intrepid pastry explorer Claire Saffitz as she dives into the world of ice cream-filled dessert tacos. Her goal? A gourmet Choco Taco, but of course. Does she have the fortitude and adventurous spirit to complete this gourmet feat or will this new test best her?

Well here we are again: Claire in the grips of yet another culinary challenge. Does she have what it takes to complete her gourmet version of Choco Tacos without the benefit of being in the Test Kitchen? The short answer is yes. The long answer is definitely yes, this is Claire Saffitz we're talking about.

No, you didn't misread the title. Pastry Chef Claire Saffitz has returned to one of her earlier gourmet conquests: Pop Tarts. This time, she's making a simplified version of her original gourmet Pop Tarts so that anybody can make them from home using common kitchen equipment.