Casual, effortless, chic: These are not words you'd use to describe most desserts. But before Alison Roman made recipes so perfect that they go by one name-The Cookie, The Pasta, The Lemon Cake-she was a restaurant pastry chef who spent most of her time learning to make things the hard way. She studied flavor, technique, precision...and distilled her knowledge to pare all that down into treats that get you the most deliciousness with the least amount of fuss.