Ever since my first fondue feast at The Melting Pot 20+ years ago, it’s been one of my favorite special occasion dinners. And whether I brainwashed my girls or it’s in the Jarrett DNA (maybe both?), my daughters love it just as much as my husband and I do. The four of us still go to The Melting Pot a few times a year and do the full-on fondue feast, but I’ve also come up with a scaled-down version that we make at home when our chocolate and cheese fondue cravings get the best of us! It’s become a Valentine’s Day tradition and today I’m sharing that tradition (and my killer chocolate fondue recipe) with you! (post includes affiliate links – full disclosure statement available {here})
When we feast on fondue at home, we actually skip the main entree because come on, who wants chicken when you’ve got cheese and chocolate?! Instead we just have a salad course (to keep the mom guilt away), cheddar cheese fondue with bread and apple dippers, and then the best part – chocolate fondue with all sorts of yummy dessert dippers. It’s just the four of us on Valentine’s Day so my tables aren’t ever anything too fancy – some cute Valentine’s Day napkins and twin bouquets of Trader Joe’s flowers is about all we need to make it special:
Our fondue set is actually one my husband and I registered for when we got married – I’m telling you guys, we’ve been fondue addicts for ages! It’s no longer available but {this fondue pot} and {this one} both get great reviews. Ours sits in the middle of a lazy Susan that has spots for six bowls that we fill up with our dippers. And we each have a pair of color-labeled fondue forks and a fondue dinner plate that has separate compartments around the edges for sauces.
To dress up our kitchen table for this year’s Valentine’s Day fondue feast, I found some red and white chevron ribbon in my crafting stash and used it to tie together a Valentine’s Day napkin (you can’t tell but they are super cute – polka dots and Boston Terriers!) with the fondue forks. For drinks I brought out {these fun mugs} we normally use for hot chocolate and added {these cute red and white chevron straws}:
Our woven chargers were thrifted finds but {these} are very similar – I love and use them all the time! The runner is with macrame fringe on the ends is a DIY – you can find the tutorial for how to make it {here}.
Normally we just have little round white bowls full of dippers for our chocolate but I came upon these adorable heart-shaped ones last week at HomeGoods and they’re perfect! They were just starting to put out their Valentine’s Day decor and only had four of them but I’ll be doing some HomeGoods stalking in hopes of finding at least two more. Our favorite dippers to fill them with are fresh strawberries, cream puffs (I buy the Simply Enjoy brand frozen ones and take them out of the freezer about 15 minutes before we eat), cut-up chunks of pound cake, and marshmallows. Other options are Rice Krispie treats, bananas, and cheesecake (are you drooling yet?!).
The flowers on our table are from Trader Joe’s – it’s pretty rare that I like their pre-made bouquets but they usually have lots of different options of flower bunches that you can mix and match to create your own bouquet. For these bouquets, I used pink and white ranunculus, small white roses, and some ornamental cabbage. I also mixed in a bundle of the tall, wispy greenery to add a more untamed feel to the bouquets – I’ve always preferred bouquets that look like they were picked out of a garden rather than perfectly formed ones.
And of course I’m not going to leave you guys without sharing my chocolate fondue recipe. Here’s the scary thing – it literally only takes three ingredients to make and a max of three minutes from start to finish. That’s downright dangerous, right?!
We came up with this super simple chocolate fondue recipe by experimenting over time (it’s for four people): Break up two 4.25 ounce Hershey’s Symphony bars (we like the ones with Almonds & Toffee Chips) and put them in a microwave-safe bowl. Pour six tablespoons of heavy whipping cream on top and microwave for 30 seconds. Once it comes out of the microwave, stir in a spoonful of peanut butter until the chocolate is fully melted and the peanut butter is blended in. Usually I’ll end up adding another tablespoon or two of whipping cream to get it to the perfect consistency but it’s best to start with less and add if needed. That’s it! Pour it in your fondue pot over a flame and you’re ready to feast!
What do you guys think? Want to come over? 🙂
