Fat + Flour: The Art of a Simple Bake

For a limited time we have copies signed by Nicole Rucker.

Stylish, modern, serious, yet friendly, this book puts the creativity and expertise of one of LA’s best bakers at your disposal.

Nicole Rucker’s Fat + Flour bakery features recipes which she has re-engineered on the principle of avoiding fussiness unless it’s 100% necessary. So in this book she’ll introduce you to making cookies with cold butter, embracing oil-based cakes, and using a stand mixer to produce pie crust.

Those technical innovations might mean little if you’re not interested in the recipes in which Rucker employs them, so let us tempt you with:

• Cookies: espresso and white chocolate; boozy banana snickerdoodles; chewy coconut oatmeal; vegan crunchy-chewy peanut butter

• Brownies and bars; gluten-free marshmallow pecan brownies; lemon, browned butter, and rosemary bars; fig leaf and vanilla shortbread

• Loaf and bundt cakes: blueberry and brown sugar bundt; carrot and olive oil loaf; spicy streusel-covered banana bread

• Pies, handpies, and galettes: tart apple with black raspberry and lemon verbena; rhubarb with raspberry, vanilla, and blood orange; sour cherry with bourbon; pistachio ambrosia; tangerine passion fruit meringue chess pie

Like many great bakers, Rucker is opinionated but generous enough to explain why she insists on certain ingredients or bakes some cakes differently from others. It’s welcome encouragement from someone realistic enough to remind you, “Practice makes progress” in the baking kitchen.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.