Chocolate Fondue (and a recipe)

The word fondue originates in French, and consists usually of melted cheese in a caquelon where everyone spears cubes of stale bread on long forks and dips said bread into the communal pot of melted cheese. There are variations on fondue, including fondue Bourgignon, where small pieces of meat and vegetables are speared, and instead of cheese, the pot contains boiling oil. Fondue Chinoise uses broth instead of oil. And then there is the pot of warm, melted chocolate…..

“Fondue” is the past tense of the verb “fondre,” which means, quite simply, to melt. If you’ve never had chocolate fondue, I’m including a great recipe from Michael Chiarello. It makes about a cup and a half of fondue, which is perfect for a little dessert among friends.

The title of my next book is also “Chocolate Fondue.” Picking up where “Chocolate for Breakfast” left off, it follows Bernadette Maguire for the rest of her vacation in Switzerland and back home in America, but also focuses on the son she gave up for adoption twenty-three years earlier, the man she’s just seen for the first time at the end of the first book. And there are plenty of new characters, too.  I’ll post more as the publication date is closer. But for now, enjoy this chocolate fondue with someone special!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon Cabernet Sauvignon, or other good red wine
• Pound cake cubes, for dipping
• Strawberries, cleaned, for dipping (and other fruit if you wish)
• Biscotti bits, for dipping

Directions