Fondue!

One of our many wonderful wedding presents was a fondue pot. At least once a year I like to pull it out to justify keeping it. When you move so much you want to make sure that everything you have is useful. For Valentine's Day dessert (which we didn't end up having until the day after Valentine's Day) I decided to make fondue. I chose a recipe called Flaming Turtle Chocolate Fondue from the blog For the Love of Food. It was soooooo yummy! I did not get any pictures, but I wanted to share the recipe with you anyway.

Ingredients
12oz milk chocolate (chips or finely chopped)
2 Tablespoons heavy cream (I actually used half & half and I ended up using more than 2T)
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping (see below for a homemade recipe)
1 Tablespoon rum
3 Tablespoons pecans, chopped
Fondue dippers, examples: pound cake, strawberries, apples, pineapple, marshmallows, pretzels

I always melt the chocolate in the fondue pot, but you can do it over the stove or in the microwave. Once your melted chocolate/cream mixture is all melted and smooth, make sure it is in your fondue pot. Then pour the caramel into the center of the mixture. Do not stir.

Add the rum and ignite carefully using a lighter. This was the fun part!

Allow the flame to burn out and stir gently to combine. Sprinkle with pecans. Keep fondue warm over low heat.

Caramel Topping Recipe

Ingredients
5 Tablespoons butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup half & half
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Melt butter and brown sugar in large saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth. Add half & half, then salt; simmer 4 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.

We used the leftover caramel over the leftover pound cake, but it would be amazing on all kinds of things. Or by itself. :)

Bread Machine: Caramel Apple Pecan Bread

I apologize in advance, but I do not have any pictures to share.

We decided to make some bread specifically to use for French toast. I gave Charles a few options from the Betty Crocker bread machine cookbook and he chose Caramel Apple Pecan Bread. I have to say he made an excellent choice.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb loaf
1 cup water (of course we had to add a little extra because it is so dry here)
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
3 cups bread flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup chopped unpeeled apple (like a Granny Smith)
1/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans (it says toasted, but we didn't toast ours)

2 lb loaf
1 1/4 cup water
2 Tablespoons butter
4 cups bread flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast
2/3 cup chopped apple
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Place all ingredients, except apple and pecans, in bread machine pan in order recommended by manufacturer. Add apple and pecans at the Raisin/Nut signal.

Select Sweet or Basic/White cycle. Light crust color. Do not use delay option.

I used the Betty Crocker Big Red recipe for french toast. I am a recipe follower, but french toast batter can usually be done without one. I did add cinnamon to the batter.

Caramel Apple Pecan Pie

A couple years ago, I found a recipe for a Caramel Apple Pecan pie (probably in a magazine, but I don't remember). It sounded so delicious! I decided to make it for Thanksgiving that year. When I took my first bite, I thought it was the most amazing apple pie I had ever tasted and decided to make it every Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow, after work, I'll be making this pie, but I wanted to go ahead and share the recipe with you. It's so easy to make, especially if you use store-bought pie crust. I love to bake, but I am intimidated by pie crust. And my kitchen is pretty tiny, so I don't have much room for rolling out a pie crust anyway.

Caramel Apple Pecan Pie

Ingredients:
2 9" pastry shells or pie crusts (don't buy Pilsbury... they have trans fat)
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced (you could use a different kind of apple, but I love Granny Smith. You kind of need that tart to balance out the sweet from the caramel. And it says to slice them, but I just chop them into bite size pieces)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (you can omit these if you don't like nuts)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 lb chopped Caramels (I use Werther's)
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 cup milk
Milk and sugar for the top

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, toss together apples, pecans, sugar, caramels, flour and milk.Spoon mixture into pie crust. Top with other pie crust. Pinch together edges. Cut slits into the top (our your initials to be fun). Brush top with milk and sprinkle with sugar (this just gives it a nice shimmer).

Bake until crust is golden brown, about 45 minutes.

Sound easy, huh? It definitely is! I hope you enjoy!

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