FONDUE PARTY

Today is my youngest son's birthday.  Because it is a work/school day he requested that we celebrate last Sunday.  When I asked what he wanted for dinner he threw me a curve ball.....Fondue he says!  I got rid of my fondue pots with my bell bottoms so I had to think about this for a day or two and oh I forgot to mention no cake....chocolate fondue!

So while I thought about it for a day or so I planned my tablescape, printed my place cards, etc.  BTW, Happy Birthday Drew!

 Finally it hit me - Boule bread would work great for dipping if you cut off the top and scooped out the bread as is done in soup in a bread bowl.  So the plan was to make the fondue on the stove, transfer to crock pots and pour into the boules and us a fondue fork to dip the fondue.  I must admit because I had never done this before I was a little nervous (OK, a lot nervous). I had four fondue forks and my dear DIL brought five so we were set.

I put a big basked of cut up French bread on both ends of the table for easy reach by our guests. We also had a big bowl of apple slices for dipping.

My son and DIL love to eat at the Melting Pot so I found two recipes from the restaurant.

Melting Pot Cheddar Fondue Recipe:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Coors Light beer (I added more beer and stirred before serving as the fondue had been in the crock pot.
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard powder
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 6 ounces medium-sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 ounces Emmentaler Swiss cheese
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Instructions

If you are using an electric fondue pot, turn it on to medium; otherwise use a double boiler to heat up this mixture. Place beer, garlic, dry mustard, and Worcestershire in the pot and combine well. Shred or cube the cheeses and toss with flour, coating the cheese well. (The flour will help thicken the sauce.) When the beer mixture is warm, add one-third of the cheese and whisk very well. Once the cheese has been incorporated well, add half of the remaining cheese and whisk in very well. Add the remaining cheese and whisk until nice and smooth.

The recipe states it will serve (4) but I doubled the recipe for the 9 of us and made another fondue and they were both almost all gone.

 

Classic Fondue Recipe:

Ingredients

• 4 ounces dry white wine - added more before serving because the fondue thickens while keeping warm in the crock pot.
• 2 or 3 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1/2 pound Emmenthaler cheese, grated
• 1/2 pound Gruyere cheese, grated
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 ounce cherry liqueur like Kirshwasser (optional) I omitted

Instructions

In your fondue pot heat together dry white wine and garlic. In a large bowl combine cheeses and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour over the cheese and mix together. Add lemon juice to white wine mixture. When the garlic becomes fragrant add 1/3 of the cheese to the fondue pot, and stir in cheese. When this cheese has melted add an additional 1/3 of the cheese and stir until melted. Add remaining amount of cheese. Stir and blend until the cheese has the texture of honey. Before serving add some fresh cracked black pepper and 1 ounce cherry-flavored liqueur like Kirshwasser (optional).

I prepared both of these in a double boiler on the stove and then transferred to a crock pot on low setting until ready to serve and then using a ladle transferred the fondue into the scooped out boule. All the guests started out with the classic but asked that I put some of the cheddar on the lid of their bread bowl.  As I mentioned I doubled both of these recipes and for nine people it was almost all gone - not enough left to save.

Chocolate Fondue Recipe:

I just used the recipe for hot fudge and added about 1/2 jar of marshmallow cream to the mixture AFTER the chocolate had heated and been stirred.  DO NOT add the marshmallow cream and then heat the chocolate.  The reason for the marshmallow is to thin out the chocolate a little so that it is the right consistency for dipping. 

  1 can (14 Oz. Size) Sweetened Condensed Milk

  1-1/2 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips

  

Pour the chocolate chips into a microwave-safe bowl. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the top of the chocolate chips. Microwave for 2 minutes on high. Then stir briskly to melt the chocolate chips into the sweetened condensed milk. If there are still lumps, microwave for 1 more minute, and stir briskly again. When the stirring is complete then add the marshmallow cream.

I added chunks of banana to the bowl of apple slices and then we had this tray of goodies to dip, marshmallows, pretzel twists, Biscoff cookies, tiny cream puffs, strawberries, cinnamon-sugar graham crackers, tiny squares of Rice Krispy treats and caramel filled wafers. No fork necessary for these items - I poured the heated chocolate into individual small footed glasses and let everyone dip away!

The momma in me just could not have a party for my boy without something to stick a candle in so we could light and sing Happy Birthday!

Cream Cheese Filled Banana Bread Recipe

  
Bread
1 large egg
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup liquid-state coconut oil (canola or vegetable may be substituted)
1/4 cup cup sour cream (lite is okay; or Greek yogurt may be substituted)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large bananas)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2  teaspoon baking powder
1/2  teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste

Cream Cheese Filling
1 large egg
4 ounces softened brick-style cream cheese (lite is okay)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.

For the bread, in a large bowl add the egg, sugars, coconut oil, sour cream, vanilla and whisk to combine. Add the bananas and stir to incorporate.  Add 1 cup flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and fold with a spatula or stir gently with a spoon until just combined; don't over-mix and set aside.

Cream cheese filling - In a large bowl add all ingredients and whisk to combine or use your mixer as I did. Put about 2/3 of the batter into the cake pan, smooth out the top with a knife or spatula (be sure and get the batter to all four corners).  Evenly pour the cream cheese filling over the bread and smooth out completely - once again be sure to go to the corners. Top with the remaining batter smoothing it out - to all the four corners making sure the batter is smooth and level.

Bake for 48 to 50 minutes until the top is domed, golden and the center is set.

Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 15 mins before transferring to a wire rack until cool.  Slice and serve. 

Bottom line - this was really fun and I would do it again.  My son has great memories of many a fondue dinner at our home in Pioneer, CA and fondue meals at The Cellar restaurant in Amador City, CA. This could have been called a throw-back Sunday meal!

Resources

Cream cheese banana filled bread recipe adapted from Averie Cooks.
Both the fondue recipes from Copy-Kat recipes - both of the recipes may be found from the Melting Pot but I found the measurements, etc. from the Copy-Kat recipes to leave less to chance.
Boule bread and everything on the tray for the dessert fondue was found at Walmart - much to my delight and surprise!
Cheese - you will find both the Emmenthaler and the Gruyere at any grocery store with a good cheese counter, I found mine at Fred Mayer.

Thank you for stopping by!