Decadent

It would have been nice to have a Velentine's day that included some seduction, but Sweetie had minor surgery in the morning, so we spent time together, but quiet time.

Today, however was another story. He's feeling fine and we topped things off with a truly decadent dessert. Imagine feeding each other pieces of apple dipped in warm, dripping chocolate caramel sauce that has bits of pecan swirled in it. Mmmm decadent. Follow that up with a dipped shortbread cookie, a dried cherry, an almond, a prune, a dried apricot. You get the idea. You can feed each other and lick your fingers and steal a kiss. Not saying that we did exactly that, but the opportunity for sweet seduction is part and parcel of this little gem. Now that this Turtle Fondue has put you in the mood, go on over to Jasmine at Cardamom Addict for Sugar High Friday#28 with the theme of Sweet Seduction. Who knows what inspiration you'll find.

If I were in the mood to make this fondue again, I'd so a few things differently. First of all I'd unwrap all those caramels before I chopped the chocolate so that if I cut my thumb, which I did, I wouldn't have to unwrap all those little devils almost one handed...a neat trick. Secondly, I'd combine the milk and caramels and cook them first until the candies had almost melted, then add the chocolate, melt, then the nuts. That way you can be sure that the candies are melted and smooth. With the nuts added before the melting, it's harder to tell what is smooth. Otherwise I'd do it the same. Having nuts and both dried and fresh fruits, plus the shortbread cookies meant that there were lots of different sizes and textures as well as flavors.

Turtle Fondue (With or Without the Pot)
Adapted from Perfect Recipes For Having People Over by Pam Anderson

8 oz. caramels, unwrapped
2 oz. semisweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
¼ cup finely chopped pecans, pre-toasted at 325 degrees for about 10 minutes until fragrant
¼ cup milk
Fresh fruit, such as apples, pears, bananas, strawberries, grapes or figs; larger fruit cut into bite sized pieces
Cubes of pound cake, pieces of shortbread cookies
Dried fruits like apricots, peaches or figs
(I added some almonds and macadamia nuts, too.)

Combine caramels, chocolate, nuts and milk in a small heavy saucepan (or a fondue pot) and heat over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth and warm. Serve in small bowls with skewers (or fondue forks) for dipping fresh and dried fruits and pound cake. Dip cookies while holding end of the cookie.

If you have a fondue pot, use it. If you use the heavy pot, the fondue sauce retains the heat fairly well. If it starts to cool off, simply return the pot to the stove and reheat.

Serves 2 to 4.

chocolate
sweet fondue
SHF #28