Holiday Entertaining with Cheese Fondue

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. As always, all opinions are mine alone. #WaysToWow #CollectiveBias

A new year is just around the corner and one of the many ways I love to celebrate is with my family enjoying some good food. Since we had the younger boys we typically just spend our New Years at home every year, and that’s our form of holiday entertaining. We get some noisemakers, some sparkling cider, lots of snacks and I’ll prepare a few of our favorite things and we will just enjoy our time together as we welcome in the new year. Sometimes our kids will have a friend or two over or we may invite some of our friends over. It’s very relaxed and low key, but if we invite some extra people it’s usually last minute.

For fun, last minute holiday entertaining we like to keep lots of snacks on hand. Whether it’s New Year’s or an average day, sometimes you just never know who’s going to come by, and since most of my friends and family know that I’m a food blogger they sort of expect excellence when they visit. Town House Crackers are great for that because they’re super tasty on their own and they come in so many delicious flavors. They’re great to add to a cheese platter, or crushed over some soup. They’re also super delicious with this easy fondue that I created in preparation for New Years. Last year for Christmas my eldest son gifted me a cute chocolate fountain. Now that my youngest boys are getting a little older, something like that chocolate fountain will make their eyes wide in amazement. So I thought that I’d make a cheesy fondue for our New Year’s celebration and serve it in the fountain just for extra ooh’s and ahh’s. It worked! I could barely snap these photos in time before little hands began creeping in and stealing all the food!

This is a fun way to wow your guests at your next gathering with minimal effort. Fondue is so easy, and you just serve with your favorite sides. Don’t forget the Town House crackers too!

*Since I was adding the cheese fondue to a fountain, I had to thin it out a bit so if you’re using a fondue pot or just serving it from the stove you don’t have to add as much liquid.

Cheese Fondue Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups (7 oz) skellig sweet cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2.5 cups (7 oz) Dubliner, shredded
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2 cups dry white wine
• 1/2 cup apple juice

Optional Sides

• Town House Crackers
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Snap Peas
• Green Olives, stuffed with garlic
• Pepperoni
• Salami
• Diced Apples

Directions:

Begin by grating both cheeses.

Add the grated cheese to a mixing bowl, then add the flour. Combine the cheese together with the flour until it’s finely coated, then set the bowl aside.

Add the olive oil, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings to a medium sized quality pot. Whisk ingredients together, then heat on medium/low.

Slowly add in about 1 cup of the wine, and whisk well. Heat for a few minutes, just until it begins to bubble.

Slowly add in the cheese a little bit at a time, while continuously whisking to keep it smooth.

Add the apple juice, 1/4 cup at a time. Also add the remaining wine, 1/4 cup at a time. Continue to whisk often and keep the heat on low at this point.

Turn the fountain on and keep the heat on about ten minutes before you’re ready to add the cheese. Once the fountain is warm and you’ve stirred all the cheese into the fondue, carefully spoon it into the bottom dish of the fountain. Power the fountain “on” and serve with your favorite sides.

My favorite was to wrap an apple chunk with either salami or pepperoni and dip into the cheese, then place on top of one of the Town House Crackers, and eat!

Enjoy!

What’s your favorite way to serve crackers for company?

We love these crackers so much that I think we need some more if we’re going to do any sort of entertaining in the next few days. We polished them off! You can find a large variety of Town House Crackers at your local Target, in the crackers and snacks aisle!