Fondue Party

We had some friends over on Halloween for our very own fancy fondue party. We have had a tradition of going to our local cities Restaurant Week, but because two of us had babies recently, we decided to do our own dinner at home.

Everything was fabulous - we had cheese fondue with bread, cauliflower, carrots, and apples. The second course was Coq Au Vin with chicken, steak, shrimp, and veggies galore. I was in charge of the chocolate fondue and decided to go with a peanut butter chocolate fondue. I was pleased with the result - it was not too sweet, had a bit of excitement with the peanut butter, and it was delicious!


For dippers we had strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, cheesecake, and pound cake. I made the cheesecake using my trusted recipe that has never failed me. Not even once. And the pound cake was a new experience for me. The taste was good, but it was a bit dry for me - I think it was mostly because I made it in two loaf pans instead of a tube pan and was unsure of how long to cook it.

The recipes I used are posted below. Enjoy!


Peanut Butter Chocolate Fondue

Ingredients:
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate disks (I used Dilettante)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

Combine all ingredients and put into a double broiler. Stir until melted and smooth.


Cheesecake

Filling
4 8 oz. packages Philadelphia cream cheese at room temp
1 c sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 large eggs at room temp

Crust
2 c graham cracker crumbs (12 whole graham crackers) – set 2 tbsp aside for topping
1/3 c sugar
1/3 c butter melted

In processor blend 3 ingredients for crust until they become a clumpy ball. Dump them into the spring-form pan (10 inch - preferred, or 9 inch) and press them to about 2 inches up the side. Set the crust aside.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wipe out processor bowl, add cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Blend together until creamy. Pour over crust.

Bake in middle of oven for 60-70 minutes. Wrap bottom of spring-form pan with foil, so if the butter leaks, it won’t drip and make smoke in the oven.

Test for doneness by jiggling the pan – done when center jiggles, but doesn’t wobble (across the whole cheesecake).

Remove from oven, and cool for at least 1 hour.

Tip: To avoid the crack down the middle of the cheesecake, cool slowly by turning off oven, leave the cheesecake in the oven until it all comes to room temperature (about 4-5 hours).


Pound Cake

Ingredients
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
3 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups all-purpose flour
6 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the sour cream and mix until incorporated. Sift the baking soda and flour together. Add to the creamed mixture alternating with eggs, beating each egg 1 at a time. Add the vanilla and pour the mixture into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes.