The Art of a Simple Bake: A Cookbook

A fuss-free, downright delicious collection of recipes for pies, cookies, brownies, cakes, and more—from “pastry queen” (Bon Appétit) Nicole Rucker, chef/owner of Los Angeles’s Fat + Flour

ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF 2025: The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, Bon Appétit, The Boston Globe, Wired, and The Strategist

A fuss-free, downright delicious collection of recipes for pies, cookies, brownies, cakes, and more—from “pastry queen” (Bon Appétit) Nicole Rucker, chef/owner of Los Angeles’s Fat + Flour

Fat + Flour is a celebration of the delights that abound when these two simple ingredients come together. Famed for her rustic desserts, homespun pies, and unique flavor combinations, Nicole Rucker is revered as one of America’s best bakers, and in this baking bible she shares the accessible, unfussy recipes that made her name.

From Rucker’s legendary pies—White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie! Stone Fruit Party Pie!—to cookies (Boozy Banana Snickerdoodles!), bars (Abuelita Milk Chocolate Brownies!), loaf cakes (Zucchini and Date Loaf Cake!), and much more, the book is a treasure trove of treats (including not one, not two, but five different chocolate chip cookies, six kinds of brownies, six unique apple pies, and five distinctly different banana breads).

Rucker gives readers everything they need to make bakery-quality baked goods at home—but without the fuss, in part thanks to what she calls the Cold Butter Method, a low-effort technique for melding fat and flour that produces perfect cookies and the tenderest pie dough every time. A cookbook guaranteed to take your baking to the next level.