Chocolate Fondue

As I was brainstorming Valentine's Day recipes I was trying to think of the most Valentines/romantic recipes I could think of and in addition to the perfect chocolate souffle, chocolate fondue comes in a very close second! I think it was because we grew up going to the Melting Pot for celebrations but to me a huge chocolate fondue spread just screams Valentine's Day. Do you know what else I love about it? Is it super easy to throw together. 

Just a couple notes on the recipe. First choose your chocolate wisely - not only quality but also sweetness level. If you want your fondue on the sweeter side, go for milk chocolate, it you want it super rich and almost bitter, go for bittersweet. Since there are only 4 ingredients in the fondue, and no additional sugar, the chocolate melted is going to have the same sweetness as the chocolate when it is in bar form. 

Also you can make this fondue as decadent or as healthy as you want. You can use only fruit as the dippers or get totally wild and crazy and use things like store bought pound cake or banana bread. 

Lastly if you want to make this dairy free, feel free to substitute coconut milk in for the half and half. 

Enjoy! 

Chocolate Fondue

• 1 lb. chocolate, chopped (use your preferred sweetness level, milk, semisweet or dark chocolate)
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean or 1 Tbs. vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• Serve with assorted fruit, cookies and pretzels. 

Place the chocolate in a medium heat safe bowl. 

In  medium sized pot, add the cream and vanilla bean. Bring to a simmer, then remove from heat. Cover with plastic wrap and allow cream to steep for about 20 minutes. Strain the cream and rewarm the cream if needed to barely simmering. 

Pour heavy cream over the chocolate and let stand for about 5 minutes. Whisk together the cream and chocolate until the chocolate is melted. Pour chocolate into fondue pot and keep war,. Assemble the fondue spread by placing the fondue pot in the center, then pile on the assorted fruit, cookies and pretzels around the chocolate. 

Serve immediately.