Adventures in Food
Family fondue night
Grab your skewer stick, it’s fondue time!
Fondue makes for the perfect family dinner.
My kids chopped up all of the veggie and fixins’ while I made the cheese sauce. Normally, I’m not a bleu cheese fan, but gorgonzola melts so beautifully that I added it into the cheese mix along with Swiss, fontina, and sharp cheddar.
I decided on two fondues–one for dinner, one for dessert.
Surprisingly the favorite dipping food for both? Fresh, torn baguette pieces. With the chocolate fondue my kids quickly ditched the marshmallows for the baguettes. I’d suggest trying the same with your crew.
Recipe
Cheese Fondue
(I based mine off Martha Stewart’s version)
Ready to start eating!
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups cheese (I mixed 1 1/2 cups cheddar and mixed in fontina, gorgonzola, and Swiss for the rest)
2 tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 1/3 cups liquid (Martha suggests white wine, I used a combination of white grape juice, water, chicken broth and a hint of white Balsamic vinegar)
2 tsps. lemon juice
garlic
olive oil
Serve with carrots, snap peas, baguette pieces, bell pepper strips, sausage pieces, and whatever else you can find
Directions
Mix the shredded cheeses with flour, white pepper and cayenne.
In a sauce pan, bring the liquid to medium-low heat (not hot!). Gradually add in the cheese a little at a time, whisking vigorously after each addition.
Once the cheese is melted, remove the pan from the burner and stir in the lemon juice. Pour into a fondue pot, if you’re using one.
Chocolate Fondue
Ingredients
1/2 cup chocolate chips (Ghirardelli are the best)
1/2-3/4 cup half and half (or heavy cream)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Pinch of salt
Serve with baguette pieces, pretzels, fresh fruit
Directions
I put all of the ingredients into our mini crockpot while we were eating dinner. When it was time for dessert, the chocolate fondue was ready.
on 
on 
on
about 3 months ago
one time when my televison crew knew we were in for a long night at the studio but with enough downtime to make dinner, we all brought fondue fixings. it was quite fun to prepare and to share — and gosh that’s been a good while ago!
Gruyere is my favorite fomdu cheese, though (at least around here it is a tad expensive so usally mix with others and is just as good that way. never tried adding lemon juice — sounds like a fine idea.
about 3 months ago
i love fondue SO MUCH. we rub our pan with garlic before we make the fondue – yum! i especially love chocolate fondue – time to head to your house!!
about 3 months ago
FUN! We haven’t done this in awhile. I’m putting fondue on the schedule. Kids and grown-ups have such a blast with this.
about 3 months ago
What a fun way to spend time together. I’d love the chocolate option…your selection of things to dip look delish!
about 3 months ago
I can’t think of a better dish for sharing on a cold night than fondue. Thanks for the recipes.
about 3 months ago
Yes, I noticed it was a great way to get the kids to eat their veggies too!
about 3 months ago
I know. It was a fun meal too.
about 2 months ago
Sometimes I think I could get my kid to eat veggies if we dipped them in chocolate. I keep meaning to try this out.
about 2 months ago
Our exchange daughter’s family in Germany does this, I think it was the most fun meal we had while we were visiting her!
about 2 months ago
I just returned from Switzerland where there was fondue aplenty. Chocolate, of course, is my fave.
about 2 months ago
I love fondue because it reminds me of the 1960s.
about 2 months ago
We just did fondue the other day – cheese first, then chocolate. It was so much fun!
about 2 months ago
I love fondue for its fun-ness, but also for the natural interaction it generates based on how it’s done. What a terrific idea for a family to do together.