New York City-based Creamline, an American classic restaurant called the “Dom Perignon of dairy” by The New York Times, maintains a strong partnership with Ronnybrook Farms and now, for the first time, with author and recipe developer Claire Saffitz, an icon in the baking community.

Saffitz’s two books, Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence and What’s for Dessert: Simple Recipes for Dessert People, solidified her existence in the world of baking and recipe development. Her next journey begins with this exciting Creamline partnership, in which she works with her husband Harris Mayer-Sellinger, chef and owner, Creamline.

© Luis Chavez

“It’s been really fun. I’ve never done a collaboration like this with a restaurant before and I’ve never done a collaboration like this with my husband in terms of business, so it’s a fun first for us in a couple of different ways,” said Saffitz. “He’s had this restaurant in Chelsea Market for the last eight years or so and we never collaborated in the past for various reasons. And we eventually just kind of looked at each other and said, ‘Why not? Let’s do it now’.”

The partnership sees Saffitz create milkshake-and-cookie pairings, each unique and flavorful and made fresh daily. When developing the menu, she knew there had to be a chocolate chip cookie involved. The inspiration for this concept came from the classic combination of cookies and milk (not to mention, Saffitz’s favorite dessert is a warm cookie with cold milk).

© Luis Chavez

Saffitz also wanted to highlight Ronnybrook Farm’s dairy even more. Describing the shakes as “creamy” and “not too sweet,” Saffitz wanted to create their perfect partner.

“I knew I wanted to do chocolate chip cookies because it’s everyone’s favorite. And then we started thinking about what the other flavors were going to be. I wanted to do something a little more fruit-forward, but it’s a little harder in New York; there really aren’t seasonal fruits here. So, I had the idea of a blondie with some fruit incorporated. I was also thinking about the shake flavors and how I wanted them to be colorful and not too sweet, so adding something like matcha to a shake is perfect because it turns it a vibrant green, and matcha is sort of bitter, so it’s a great flavor to offset the sweet dairy flavors,” explained Saffitz.

The pairings include a salted and malted vanilla shake with a brown butter chocolate chip cookie; a green tea shake featuring matcha, paired with a strawberry mochi blondie; a honey-banana milkshake with a peanut butter cookie; and a blueberry shake with lemon poppy Linzer cookies.

“We have an interesting take on a blondie; it’s a mochi one inspired by Hawaiian mochi with that sweet, bouncy and chewy texture. It has that crackly top and there’s butter in it, so it’s kind of blondie-adjacent. I’m most excited about this one.”

Saffitz is most excited to see, in real time, customers and patrons of the restaurant try them. Saffitz said, “With cookbooks, You Tube and developing recipes in general, you don’t get people’s feedback in real time. I’ve never owned or worked in a bakery for people’s consumption in an immediate sense, so it’s fun to do this.” She also finds the production process therapeutic and repetitive, a nice change of pace where her mind can go to a different place as she scales recipes up by 10.

© Luis Chavez

Saffitz continues to work on recipe development, plans for future books and her presence on social media. Hailing from a line of bakers, including her mother, Saffitz has always found baking engaging and enriching. She has a thriving You Tube channel, two books under her belt, a massive Instagram presence and a Patreon account. Saffitz’s second book was published in late 2022. She enjoys working on You Tube content, in which two people come to her house and they spend time together creating recipes and dishes for the audience, while her Patreon presence is another fun way for Saffitz to interact with followers and “have a one-to-one dialogue with readers and home bakers who are subscribers. It lets me test things out in a way that I never have. It’s a little more intimate.”

She also experiments with savory dishes on Patreon, as she loves to toy with home cooking, particularly with soups, stocks and stews come winter, as well as finding ways to use up leftovers and letting no food go to waste.

Saffitz can’t wait to see how customers respond to her Creamline partnership, and she hopes to have more fun partnerships and books in the pipeline soon.