Fat + Flour: The Art of a Simple Bake by Nicole Rucker

    • Categories: Cookies, biscuits & crackers; Afternoon tea; Cooking ahead
    • Ingredients: unbleached all-purpose flour; baking soda; rolled oats; granulated sugar; dark brown sugar; unsalted butter; chocolate chunks; eggs; vanilla extract
    show

Notes about this book

  • runningmom on September 29, 2025

    Lemon, Browned Butter, and Rosemary Bars A recent comment on Reddit about this book points out that there is no lemon juice listed in the filling ingredients, just 1 T zest. The directions don't mention juice either. This seems rather odd...

Notes about Recipes in this book

  • 1990s oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies

    • EatinSnax on April 26, 2025

      Very good! The unique method of mixing the dough is made clear with step by step photos. I also appreciate the written details (cacao % to use for chocolate, visual indicators for when to pull the cookies out of the oven, etc). It was very easy, and the results were delicious. Love the efficiency.

    • BachranBears on April 28, 2025

      Delicious. Will use a little less chocolate and a little more salt, but that’s just our preference. To get 12 cookies, a 3 Tbsp cookie scoop worked perfectly.

    • nadiam1000 on June 03, 2025

      Second recipe from this book and another winner. I added less chocolate and these were perfection. A thinner cookie with crisp edges and chewy center. I ended up with 11 cookies based on my scoop size. I scooped and froze the dough so I could bake a few cookies at a time.

  • Fat and gooey chocolate chunk cookies with pecans

    • EatinSnax on May 03, 2025

      Another recipe that delivers what it promises: a big chonky cookie with a crispy exterior and thick fudgy interior. Couldn’t be any easier, and we loved them.

    • nadiam1000 on May 18, 2025

      Recipe easy to put together - love that weights are provided, I did not have any milk chocolate so I used a high quality dark chip - really nice big crispy/chewy cookies.

  • East coast crunch cookies

    • EatinSnax on August 30, 2025

      Oh no, this recipe plays DIRTY! These are dangerously delicious. For anyone who enjoys Tate’s crispy cookies, these are even better. By a lot. Very flavorful and crispy if you trust the process and bake them to dark brown and let them cool all the way down. I will probably push them even darker next time. I used a size 70 (1 tbsp) cookie scoop, which gave the exact size of dough balls called for in the recipe.

  • Classic soft chocolate chip cookies

    • MattKG on April 08, 2025

      Made these today. Excellent cookie. Love the cold butter method for making cookies. ????

    • TheresaH on December 02, 2025

      This is a great classic chocolate chip cookie recipe. Love the cold butter method Rucker uses for making cookies.

  • Vegan bourbon chocolate pecan cookies

    • peregrinesandcougars on February 18, 2026

      Cookie did not spread much or look like photo. Taste ok, slight caramel note from bourbon. First time using the egg replacer as an egg substitute.

  • Classic chewy sugar cookies

    • EatinSnax on June 03, 2025

      First printing errata: 1 tsp baking soda is missing from ingredients, needs to be added with other dry ingredients.

  • Vegan soft and rich sugar cookies

    • EatinSnax on June 03, 2025

      First printing errata: 1 tsp baking soda is missing from ingredients, needs to be added with other dry ingredients.

  • Boozy banana snickerdoodle cookies

    • Breannetuttle on November 12, 2025

      These were good cookies! Just note the excessive amount of cinnamon-sugar topping the recipe calls to make - could not use a full cup of sugar to coat 12 cookies! I cut it in half and it was still too much. More cakey than chewy, but I enjoyed them.

    • blairla on January 05, 2026

      Very good, easy to make recipe thanks to the cold butter method. More of a cakey cookie that’s reminiscent of a muffin top. You can definitely cut the cinnamon sugar mixture in half, but I saved the excess for cinnamon toast, etc. The salt in the cinnamon sugar mixture really amps it up! Not sure why I haven’t seen that elsewhere before, but it really makes a difference in flavor. I used black walnuts.

  • Chewy coconut oatmeal cookies

    • EatinSnax on July 01, 2025

      These cookies were incredible! I absolutely love coconut, as well as oatmeal cookies, so I figured I’d like them. They still exceeded my expectations. SO chewy, yet delicately crispy on the outside. Delicious buttery toasted coconut flavor. This ranks as one of my favorite cookies ever. It’s worth tracking down the coconut milk powder to make these.

    • cookingbychapter on January 20, 2026

      These were good, other people liked them more than I did, but I am admittedly not a super fan of coconut. Loved the texture.

  • Co-op tofu brownie cookies

    • EatinSnax on March 20, 2026

      Love this recipe! These are very quick to put together (no resting time), and not too heavy or sweet. Perfect for an afternoon treat. They have a really fun texture like squidgy brownie bite. They don’t spread much at all, so now I press the balls a little flatter before I bake. One of my kids’ favorite cookies.

  • Extra spicy ginger molasses cookies

    • EatinSnax on December 10, 2025

      I really like how these came out. They are heavily spiced, but the recipe doesn’t go too far. I love the flavor. Nicely chewy version of a classic. The written recipe only calls for candied ginger to be mixed into the dough, but the photo in the book looks like the dough was rolled in extra candied ginger before baking. I’ll try it that way next time. A heaping size 70 cookie scoop got me about the number of cookies specified. These were everyone’s favorite cookies on my holiday cookie platter this year.

  • Vanilla sprinkle crinkle cookies

    • TheresaH on December 02, 2025

      These are delicious and fun.

  • Vegan lemon lavender cookies

    • EatinSnax on June 03, 2025

      First printing errata: 1 tsp baking soda is missing from ingredients, needs to be added with other dry ingredients.

  • Vegan crunchy-chewy peanut butter cookies

    • breck_x0p0c8 on May 24, 2026

      These are absolutely delicious and will become my go-to crowd friendly party offering. The dough is so soft that I had to chill the bowl before even trying to form balls. They spread a lot on the cookie sheet. Makes a lot more than 12 cookies, imo.

  • Vegan PB sandwich cookies

    • smcculle on June 13, 2025

      used bob's 1-1 gluten free flour. came out great

  • Dark chocolate brownies

    • EatinSnax on March 21, 2026

      A very good example of the ultra-dense and chewy style of brownie. Delicious and a little nostalgic.

  • London fog brownies

    • eclairea on February 08, 2026

      Added extra half tbsp of earl grey to amp up the tea flavour, and it was perfect. Fun take on brownies! Also used a mix of white, bittersweet, and unsweetened chocolate on top.

  • White chocolate, vanilla, and coconut brownies

    • EatinSnax on February 08, 2026

      I’d never had white chocolate brownies before, and I assumed they would be like blondies, but they really are brownies. The white chocolate flavor comes through strongly. They were super chewy after cooling completely, which I loved. I appreciated the visual indicators for doneness in the recipe, because mine hit that point a few minutes before the time was up. I might’ve assumed it was underdone, but I followed the cue and it was perfect.

  • Pecan honey caramel bars

    • EatinSnax on December 31, 2025

      I had some issues with this recipe. Didn’t love the texture of the crust with 1/2 cup of cornstarch. It also seemed very thick compared to the filling. The next issue is that the recipe overflowed the quarter sheet pan that was called for. The good thing I’ll say about this recipe is that the caramel honey filling was absolutely delicious, but I wanted more pecans in it.

  • Zucchini and date loaf cake

    • EatinSnax on March 21, 2026

      Really delicious cake. I like how the dates are incorporated in two ways in the batter, the date flavor really comes through. The almond flour and almond crunch on top was lovely with it. Next time I’ll be less zealous about wringing out the zucchini, because extra moisture would have been welcome.

  • Lemony Greek yogurt pound cake

    • DebCooks on March 20, 2026

      This is divine! Easy to make though i didn’t get 4 tablespoons of lemon zest (i added about 2) it still turned out well.

  • Vanilla and coconut bundt cake

    • EatinSnax on August 17, 2025

      This cake came out fantastic! I served it for a birthday and everyone went for seconds. It was super rich and moist, even the edges. Really delicious too. Love the cold oven start here. My oven preheats quickly so my cake was done before the estimated time, about an hour.

  • Sour cream chocolate chunk bundt cake

    • cookingbychapter on December 28, 2025

      This was a good cake! Had a golden crisp exterior and moist center. Was surprised there was no vanilla, but we thought it tasted great!

  • Sour cream pecan coffee bundt cake

    • BachranBears on May 03, 2025

      Absolutely delicious. New family favorite. Will probably decrease the amount of streusel next time because it makes an excessive amount, and skipped the glaze.

    • tiffany_4953y6 on January 01, 2026

      This was quite good, although I found it a touch sweet - I think you can definitely skip the glaze and/or cut the sugar in the streusel. Regarding the streusel - the recipe calls for you to reserve some streusel to sprinkle on top. However, it doesn’t tell you to bake the streusel. You really should bake it given it’s made with raw flour. I baked it on a baking sheet at 350 for 8 minutes, tossing it occasionally and it crisped up nicely and lost the “raw” flour taste. Also agree with the commenter that this makes way too much streusel. I upped the cinnamon to a heaping tablespoon.

  • Classic 1980s mom banana bread

    • EatinSnax on June 02, 2025

      This makes a hefty loaf that just barely fits in a standard 9x5 pan. Mine rose up and over the edge, but fortunately did not overflow to the oven floor. I would not attempt this one with an 8.5x4.5 pan. Instructions call for 40-50 min at 350°F, but I baked mine for 70 minutes and found it still had an underbaked spot in the middle. Definitely fits the old-school banana bread profile. Edit: better results with an extra 1/2 cup of flour

  • Browned butter banana bread

    • EatinSnax on September 11, 2025

      The flavors here are delicious and robust, like banana bread all grown up. I really like it and have made it twice, but both times I wondered if this recipe wouldn’t benefit from a little more flour. There’s a high ratio of wet ingredients to dry ingredients, so much so that the slices fall apart in my hands and I end up having to eat them in a bowl with a fork. For reference, I used 11.5% protein AP flour. Bake time was also significantly longer than called for in the recipe.

    • AnikaLavine on October 08, 2025

      Came here to echo EatinSnax! Super liquid and takes a really long time (way longer than written) to fully bake. Definitely feels like this needs more dry ingredients but I have also made it twice both because I like the flavor but also because I wanted to make it work more as I expected it should. Thank you EatinSnax for making me feel validated!

  • Chocolate marbled banana bread

    • Partyof7 on September 06, 2025

      Very good. Nice twist on a classic.

    • EatinSnax on February 20, 2026

      Delicious! My kids love it. As written, this one came out better for me than some of the others in this book, I think because the cocoa makes the batter less wet. However, I’ve made it again with extra flour (1/4 cup here), and got a better rise and less gummy texture. Takes ~75 minutes to bake through in my oven.

  • Spicy streusel-covered banana bread

    • EatinSnax on January 25, 2026

      After struggling with 3 other banana breads from this book that I feel have overly wet batter, I decided to increase the flour to 2 cups for this one. I got a MUCH better result with the added flour. Took a lot longer to bake than indicated in the recipe (just like all the other banana breads). The amount of ginger in this one packs a punch that I really liked. The crunchy streusel is so nice and takes it over the top.

  • Fat & flour pie dough

    • EatinSnax on April 14, 2025

      This pie dough might be a new contender for my favorite sweet pie crust. I appreciated all the photos, since I am not used to making dough in a mixer. Not sure if I prefer using a mixer over hands yet, but the result was great. I’ll be using this recipe a lot.

    • Astrid5555 on August 29, 2025

      Perfect pie dough, super easy to work with!

    • AnikaLavine on November 27, 2025

      What am I missing with this recipe? My Crusts came out more crumbly in texture than I was hoping for and they tore when rolling out. I used the method she described in her past cookbook too amd it resulted in super flaky delicious crusts but they would always crack when rolling out also... Pie crust seems to be my white whale...

    • saase on December 01, 2025

      This is my new go-to pie dough!

    • Lepa on May 17, 2026

      This was the best pie dough I have ever made. Consider me a convert!

  • Buttery apple pie with fall spices

    • MattKG on April 22, 2025

      Made this on Easter. Wasn't sweet enough in my opinion. The following day, after a night in the fridge, the flavours were perfect!

  • Tart apple with black raspberry and lemon verbena pie

    • EatinSnax on July 23, 2025

      10/10 flavor combination for me! I’m particular about what I use my black raspberries in, because they’re so limited. This pie was an excellent use for them. The earthy juiciness of the berries and the herbaceous brightness of the verbena made this a very summery and memorable apple pie. So delicious as written, no notes!

  • Sesame crumble apple pie

    • EatinSnax on December 27, 2025

      This is the first fruit pie I’ve made from this book that I feel like I’d make changes to. It was good, but it could’ve been better. The tahini overwhelmed the apple a bit, and the whole pie was earthier than I want a fruit pie to be. I’d reduce the tahini in the filling by a tbsp and add in some citrus zest and a little spice (maybe cardamom or cinnamon) next time to brighten it up a little. That said, sesame and apple do seem to be a nice pairing. Like a funky peanut butter apple pie.

  • Apple and vanilla galette

  • Gingery pear crumble pie

    • EatinSnax on April 14, 2025

      This pie came out fantastic. I followed the recipe to the letter, and wouldn’t change a thing. The ginger was present without overwhelming the pears, and the candied bits in the crumble were a treat. Just delicious!

  • Rhubarb with raspberry, vanilla, and blood orange pie

    • EatinSnax on May 14, 2025

      Really loved this pie! Mostly rhubarb, with just a handful of raspberries. No notes, would make again.

  • Blueberry with lavender and cream cheese crumble pie

    • EatinSnax on July 07, 2025

      Excellent! Half the blueberries are cooked down and thickened on the stovetop, while the other half of the berries are chilled and added to the filling before assembling the pie. The result is whole juicy blueberries suspended throughout the delicious filling. As with the other fruit pies from this book, the other components compliment the fruit without overwhelming it. A balanced, delicious blueberry pie recipe.

  • Blackberry and buttery oat crumble pie

    • Lepa on May 17, 2026

      Delicious pie, the flavors are well balanced. It is a bit more work than other fruit pies because you have to cook the fruit but results were worth it.

  • Old-fashioned sour cherry pie with bourbon

    • sosayi on January 31, 2026

      Delicious pie! Filling was perfectly flavored with bourbon, cinnamon and lemon. Crust was flaky and crisp on top. My only issue was that the filling didn’t set up right, but I think that’s my fault for using only partially thawed cherries. Would definitely make again. And it tasted great as-is in a bowl with ice cream.

  • Stone fruit party pie

    • EatinSnax on July 15, 2025

      Followed the recipe exactly and would make it again without changing a thing. The combination of fruit gave the filling a really unique tart flavor that I loved. I also thought the crumb topping was the perfect texture and sweetness.

  • Pistachio ambrosia pie

    • EatinSnax on May 16, 2025

      A very campy pie that was genuinely enjoyed by all. What’s not to love about green fluffy stuff! The ratio of ingredients is really similar to an old-school ambrosia, but the salted nuts throughout and real whipped cream improve upon the classic. I would combine the ingredients in a different order next time though. Adding the instant pudding to creme fraiche caused it to seize up into a gelatinous mass immediately, which was very difficult to fold in to the whipped cream. Next time, I would try dissolving the pudding mix by adding it to the canned pineapple with 1-2 tbsp of the drained juice (the way Watergate salad is made) before folding everything in.

  • Chocolate silk pie

    • MattKG on April 08, 2025

      Supercharged chocolate. Whipped cream to top is a must. Great crust!

  • Tangerine passion fruit meringue chess pie

    • EatinSnax on September 27, 2025

      This pie was delightful! The combination of lemon, tangerine, and passion fruit is really lovely. Bright and citrusy like lemon meringue pie, but more fragrant and complex. The filling and meringue were both simple to make as well. No stovetop cooking. The meringue is a French meringue, so you really have to make sure the sugar gets dissolved, but it worked out for me. I liked the little crust it got on top from the oven.

You must Create an Account or Sign In to add a note to this book.

Reviews about this book

This book does not currently have any reviews.

  • ISBN 10 0593801792
  • ISBN 13 9780593801796
  • Published Apr 08 2025
  • Format eBook
  • Page Count 224
  • Language English
  • Countries United States
  • Publisher Knopf

Publishers Text

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 six 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.

Other cookbooks by this author