Chocolate Fondue

Last weekend, we had a pot luck dinner for my friend's birthday. I was in charge of the dessert and we have decided to go for chocolate fondue. Fondue originates from Switzerland, which refers to several communal dishes shared at the table in an earthernware port over a small burner. The term is French, 'fondre' meaning to melt. Contents in the eartern pot are kept in a liquid state so that food can be dipped into the sauce using the fondue fork. Besides chocolate, there are also cheese, oil and broth fondue.

For the fondue, I've prepared some fruits - grapes, bananas, apples and strawberries, and marshmallows. I've also made some choux pastry and viennese cookies to go with the chocolate. The choux pastry turned out well, though one of the batches was in the oven for too long...so it was a little bit burnt. I had a bit more problem with the viennese cookies. The dough was too thick for the cookie presser, so I had to shape each one of them myself.

Besides preparing for the fondue, I've also made some homemade chocolates. I've made this many many times before. Every friends of mine, and especially my boyfriend, loves this chocolate of mine. I've even packed this up as Christmas present last December. They've urged me many times before to consider selling this, but it'll not be that easy to find the right people to market to. I'll just have to wait and see if something come out of this!

I've found the choux pastry recipe from Delia's website.

Choux Pastry
Ingredients:
60g plain flour
50g butter, cut into small pieces
1 tsp caster sugar
2 large eggs, well beaten
150ml cold water

Methods:
1. Fold a sheet of baking parchment to make a crease, then open it up again. Sift the flour straight on to the square of parchment and add the sugar.
2. Put the cold water in a medium sized saucepan together with the pieces of butter, then place the saucepan over a moderate heat and stir with a wooden spoon. As soon as the butter has melted and the mixture comes up to the boil, turn off the heat immediately, as too much boiling will evaporate some of the water.
3. Tip in all the flour – in one go – with one hand, while you beat the mixture vigorously with the other. You can do this with a wooden spoon, although an electric whisk will save you lots of energy.
4. Beat until you have a smooth ball of paste that has left the sides of the saucepan clean – take less than a minute. Then beat in the beaten eggs – a little at a time, mixing in each addition thoroughly before adding the next – until you have a smooth glossy paste.
5. At this stage, hold the greased baking sheet under cold running water for a few seconds, and tap it sharply to get rid of excess moisture. This will help create a steamer atmosphere, which in turn helps the pastry to rise.
6. Pipe small choux pastry on the baking sheet, leaving 1 inch between them, and bake on a high shelf in the pre-heated oven gas mark 6, 400°F (200°C) for 10 mins. After that, increase the heat to Gas7/425F/220C and bake for a further 10-15mins until the choux buns are crisp, light and a rich golden colour.
7. Pierce the side of each one to let out the steam, then cool them on a wire rack.

Viennese Cookies
Ingredients:
125g butter
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup cornflour

Methods:
1. Preheat the oven at 190C.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Sift in the flour and cornflour and stir until smooth.
4. Place the mixture in a cookie presser and press out the cookie dough on a well greased baking tray. *In my case, I just shape the cookies with my hand.
5. Bake for 10-15mins until pale gold.
6. Cool on a wire rack.