Book excerpt: Professional pastry chef and Top Chef contestant shows you how to indulge in dessert while maintaining a healthy lifestyle with 100 low-fat recipes, including more than 25 sugar-free variations. In her debut cookbook, Marisa Churchill will show you how to pick the best ingredients, create contrasting textures, boost flavor with fresh fruit, herbs, and spices, and substitute lower-fat/lower-calorie alternatives without skimping on flavor. From quick weeknight desserts that can be ready in fewer than thirty minutes to elegant desserts for dinner parties and holidays, Sweet & Skinny gives readers all the skills and recipes they need to satisfy their cravings. Hosting a dinner party? Wow your guests with Individual S’More Tarts, Goat Cheesecake with Figs, or perhaps a Rosemary Angel Food Cake with Lemon Glaze. Charged with a holiday dessert? How about Pear and Chocolate Upside-Down Cake, Orange-Chile Chocolate Bark, or Baked Apples with Maple-Gingersnap Stuffing? Faced with a sudden craving? Rest assured—No-Bake Cheesecake Cups with Concord Grapes, Molten Chocolate Soufflé Cake, and Mocha Affogato Milkshakes can be whipped up in minutes. For those who are trying to lose weight, have dietary restrictions, or are simply looking to decrease sugar, Sweet & Skinny offers a path to eating healthier and baking simpler by lowering fat and cooking smart, with everything in moderation.