dear cooks,

As a home baker, you obviously want recipes that are delicious, not overly difficult to make, and that celebrate the best ingredients of the season. But just as important, you want to know what dough should feel like, what batter should look like, and whatever bread or pie or cake you're baking should smell like when you open the oven door. That's why The Sono Baking Company Cookbook belongs on every serious home baker's shelf. Written by the host of Everyday Baking, John Barricelli shares both the recipes that elevated his Connecticut bakery to national fame (Banana Streusel Muffins, Maple Pecan Tarts, Passion Fruit Mousse, Kalamata Olive and Red Onion Tart) as well as the expertise that will turn you, too, into an intuitive baker.

Clarkson Potter/Publishers

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For anyone who's read Jillian Michael's revolutionary diet bestseller, Master Your Metabolism, or who just wants a hands up to healthier eating that ditches fad diets, The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook does just want its title promises. Here are 125 recipes that don't rely on processed "Franken-foods," and enhance nutrition and weight loss but still taste great and are easy to make. Leave it to the Biggest Loser coach to come up with recipes that really get the job done!

It's easy to underestimate just how delicious these easy little tartlets are. The crust is crisp and buttery, the jam a little sharp, and the streusel nice and sweet. They are perfect little mouthfuls. They were inspired by a visit to a L.A. Burdick Bakery in Walpole, New Hampshire, where I stopped on my way back home from bread-baking classes at the King Arthur Flour Baking Education Center in Norwich, Vermont. These tartlets are excellent served as an after-school snack, for tea, or for a picnic, as they travel quite well and don't need to be refrigerated. Try them with any favorite jam. You will need 2-inch mini tart pans or rings, as shown here, to make these individual tartlets.

½ recipe Pâte Sucrée (recipe below), chilled

Streusel

Makes about 16 mini tartlets

• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon coarse salt
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ cup (½ stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch cubes
• ½ cup seedless raspberry jam
• 3-4 tablespoons of confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick silicone baking mat; set aside. Butter sixteen 2-inch tart molds; set aside.
2. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough to about ⅛ inch thick. Cut as many 2½-inch rounds as possible, and fit them into the prepared molds. Chill and reroll the scraps, cut out the remaining rounds, and fit them into the remaining molds; you should be able to line 16 tartlet molds. Arrange the molds on the prepared baking sheet, and chill for 20 minutes.
3. To make the streusel: In a medium bowl, use a fork to stir together the flour, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Add the butter, and using your fingertips, quickly work into the dry ingredients until pea-size crumbs form; set aside in the refrigerator.
4. Set the oven rack in the bottom third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
5. Spoon about 1 teaspoon jam into each tart shell. Mound 1 rounded tablespoon of streusel on top of each tartlet, bunching the crumbs together in order to make large crumbs and give the topping texture.
6. Bake, rotating the baking sheet about two-thirds of the way through the cooking time, until the edges of the tarts are golden brown and the streusel is cooked, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

Pâte Sucrée

This sweet dough incorporates both egg and egg yolk to form a sweet and rich crust for pies and tarts.

Makes enough for one double-crust or two single-crust 9-inch pies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk

1. In a bowl, whisk the flour to aerate it; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, and salt on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl halfway through. Add the egg and yolk, and mix to combine. Add the flour and beat until it has been absorbed.
3. Scoop about half of the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, shape into a flattened disk, and wrap in the plastic. Do the same for the other half. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.

Technique Tip: Roll sweet dough with as little flour as possible—too much flour makes the dough break and alters the recipe. Instead, when the dough starts to stick, slide an offset spatula or bench scraper underneath, freeing the dough, continuing to turn it as you do so.

If you've never had steel-cut oats, you're in for a treat. Chewier than rolled oats (which are often labeled "old-fashioned") and with a great nutty flavor, their only drawback is that they take longer to cook than to eat! However, the quick-cooking type makes them possible on any busy morning; and as my friend and colleague Dr. John La Puma says in his book ChefMD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine, there is no true nutritional difference between the regular and the quick-cooking types.

Serves 4

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 cup quick-cooking steel-cut oats
• 2 apples, cored and chopped into ½-inch pieces
• 1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4½ teaspoons organic maple syrup, honey, or agave nectar
• ⅓ cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted

In a medium saucepan, combine the almond milk, 1 cup water, and the oats. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed, 10 to 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes.

While the oatmeal is cooking, in a small saucepan, place the apples, cinnamon, ½ teaspoon of the maple syrup, and 1 tablespoon water. Cook over medium heat until the apples are softened and the liquid has reduced to a syrupy consistency, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the pecans and cover to keep warm.

Stir the apples and nuts into the cooked and rested oatmeal. Divide among four bowls. Drizzle 1 teaspoon maple syrup over each bowl and serve.

Calories: 280.5 kcal
Fat: 10.5 g
Protein: 7.4 g
Carbohydrates: 45.2 g
Sodium: 39.7 mg