Guest Author - Anita Burroughs

I wish it just wasn’t so, but I love desserts. I am a personal chef, and the thing I most enjoy preparing for my clients and my friends and family are desserts. I’ve been making wonderful sweets now for over 20 years, and I am looking forward to sharing the best of the best with my Desserts To-Die-For Newsletter readers.

One thing that I’ve learned over the years is that a dessert that takes fifteen minutes is often as good (if not better) than one that takes five hours to make. I once brought a flourless chocolate torte to a potluck dinner in the neighborhood. One of my friends commented that she wished she had the time and the skill to make such a fabulous dessert. She steadfastly refused to believe me when I told her that this heavenly creation took me a quarter of an hour to prepare.

I learned quickly that in catering events, I simply do not have the luxury of making any dish that takes too much time. A typical party may showcase ten or more dishes, and there are not enough hours in the day to spend hours upon hours preparing one or more dishes. In my Desserts To-Die For Newsletter, I will primarily share what I call “WOW” recipes that don’t take a lot of skill or time to prepare.

You know you have that “WOW” factor when one of two things happen. No one says a word while they are biting into it, because they have gone into a happy dessert trance. The other thing that happens is that they blurt out “oh my gosh!” after placing that dessert in their mouth. It is my goal to have your family and friends react in this way to all of the desserts presented in this newsletter.

I hope to cover a wide range of desserts, from cookies, cakes, puddings and pies to move exotic soufflés, pastries, ethnic favorites, and edible gifts. As someone who is chronically in need of watching her weight, I’ll include some wonderful low fat desserts that taste anything but low in fat.

I also plan to review cookbooks that prominently feature desserts, and share with you some of my all time favorite dessert books of all time. I’ll let you know where to order hard-to-find ingredients online, and let you know about which vendors you can count on for high quality and fast shipping. Last but not least, I will cover wonderful tools that will make baking and creating desserts easier and more efficient, and let you know where you can find these items at the best price.

I do want to hear from Bella Online readers about your favorite dessert recipes, and tell me what you’d like me to cover. This is going to be a fun journey, and I hope you’ll be there to share it with me. You can sign up for the Desserts To-Die-For Newsletter now. Just enter your email address in the "free email" icon on the right side of the desserts site. You'll receive your first newsletter very soon!


Cheers!
Anita Burroughs
Bella Online Desserts Editor