Welcome back to the fondue pot! Tonight I will deliver on the promise of sweet dessert fondues. And yes, there will be lots of CHOCOLATE!!!
Chocolate fondue with strawberries
Last week I covered lots of tasty savory fondues so if you missed it go
here.
From the Wiki:
The extension of the name "fondue" to other dishes served in a communal hot pot dates to 1950s New York. Konrad Egli, a Swiss restaurateur, introduced fondue bourguignonne at his Chalet Suisse restaurant in 1956. Then in the mid 1960s, he invented chocolate fondue as part of a promotion for Toblerone chocolate.[15] A sort of chocolate mousse or chocolate cake had also sometimes been called "chocolate fondue" starting in the 1930s.[16]
From an interesting blog entry at
The Big Apple:
Food writer John Mariani states that "chocolate fondue" (or "Fondue Chocolat") was invented as a gimmick in New York City. Mariani even dates the event to July 4, 1964, by Konrad Egli at his Chalet Suisse restaurant. The "Roadfood" Sterns insist that "chocolate fondue" came from Madison Avenue advertising to promote Toblerone Swiss chocolate.
The problem here is that "chocolate fondue" is cited in print as far back as a 1930s issue of McCall's; one such "chocolate fondue" recipe was described in 1956 as "a glorified bread pudding." Toblerone did advertise "chocolate fondue" and Konrad Egli's Chalet Suisse restaurant in New York City did offer "Fondue Chocolat," but both events appear to have occurred in 1966 (not 1964).
So, what was that recipe like? Well, lets get our little forks and take a dip!
From Fondues From Around the World here is the recipe for what Egli supposedly concocted:
Toblerone Fondue
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 bars Toblerone, each 4oz
1 tblsp Cognac, rum, or milk
Warm the cream in a small saucepan. Break chocolate into pieces, add to the cream and stir until melted. Thin slightly with Cognac, rum, or milk, being careful the alcohol does not ignite. Pour into small fondue pot and place over a candle warmer.
This tastes best with white bread or cake cubes, pieces of pear or apple, banana slices, cherries, mandarin orange sections, or grapes.
And now a modern but simple one:
From
Not Your Mother's Fondue:
Darkest Ever Chocolate Fondue
11 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (use the darkest organic you can find)
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tblsp orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, preferably Ceylon
Heat the chocolate, cream, orange liqueur, and cinnamon over medium heat in a medium sized fondue pot.
Serve warm using the lowest setting (or a candle warmer).
Serve with fresh berries, fruit, pretzels, pound cake cubes, baguette cubes, mini popcorn balls.
When I was in high school, I studied Spanish. One of the fun things I remember having in class was
chocolate con churros. Churros are basically a fried dough, similar to our doughnuts. I remember making the chocolate was quite different from the powdery hot chocolate mix we are familiar with. It was made with thick melted Hershey bars and a little sprinkle of cinnamon and we each had a little mug and dipped our churros into it.
Mexican Abuelita Chocolate Ganache Fondue
From Not Your Mother's Fondue
1 15 oz container Cacique Crema (Mexican table cream)
or 2 cups heavy cream
1 12.6 oz pkg sweet Mexican chocolate, such as Abuelita or Ibarra (I am not familiar with either but I would look for something that has cacao nibs, sugar, and cinnamon)
1/4 cup hazelnut liqueur
Place the crema, chocolate, and liqueur in a medium size fondue pot and heat on very low heat, stirring frequently, for 10-15 minutes, or until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth and creamy. Serve over low heat.
Serve with strawberries, tangerine, tangelo and orange wedges, pineapple cubes, Mexican wedding cookies, churros.
Oh, you want to know the recipe to make the churros to go with that?
Well here's one:
Churros
Ok, let's take a look at some other dessert fondues. It's not all about the chocolate;)
Caramel Rum Fondue
From Not Your Mother's Fondue
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
3 tblsp dark rum
pinch of sea salt
Place the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan and heat over medium high heat to a boil. Cook until the syrup caramelizes, 10-15 minutes. During this time, the syrup will thicken and eventually turn a dark amber color. Remove from the heat.
Carefully stir in the cream, rum, and salt. The mixture will instantly form large clumps of sugar. Reheat the mixture over low heat until thick and the sugar clumps have dissolved. Transfer to a medium size fondue pot and serve over the lowest heat.
Serve with tart apple wedges.
Looking for a new way to use cranberries?
Spiked Orange Cranberry Fondue
From Andrea's Recipes
1-1/2 cups (360 ml) cabernet sauvignon or other dry red wine
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120 ml) orange juice
1 cinnamon stick, about 3 inches (8 cm) long
12 ounces (340 g) fresh cranberries
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur
1 tablespoon cornstarch
DIPPERS
panettone, cubed
fruit cake, cubed
madeleines
apple wedges
pear wedges
sugared pineapple slices
gingerbread slices
In the sauce pan, combine the cabernet sauvignon, sugar, and orange juice. Stir and add the cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves completely. Add the cranberries and stir, cooking over medium heat.
In the small bowl, stir together the Grand Marnier and cornstarch. When the cranberry mixture reaches a boil, stir in the cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently. The mixture should thicken slightly.
Discard the cinnamon stick and transfer to a ceramic fondue pot. Set over a low flame, such as a tea light and serve with dippers.
I hope you have enjoyed our little foray into fondue. There are so many great variations out there that I could go on and on. I'll stop though and just say go pick up a couple of cookbooks and explore on your own.
Yin Yang Fondue from The Melting Pot restaurant