SPICY CHEESE FONDUE WITH CRUDITES AND CROUTONS
The head chef at Pebble Beach Gold Resort in Monterey, California served this to me as an appetizer – it is delicious! The fondue is so rich you can serve it for dinner with the crudites and croutons.
BREAD BOWL
Preheat oven to 350°. Cut off top of
1 24 oz. round loaf of unsliced sourdough bread (CostCo bakery)
Reserve top. Hollow out the inside of the loaf with a small knife, leaving a 3/4″ shell.
CHEESE FONDUE
Combine with a mixer
3 C sharp cheddar cheese, grated (12 oz.)
12 oz. Neufchatel cheese, softened
1 C sour cream
1 C green onions, chopped
2 (7 oz.) cans green chiles, diced
1/2 tsp. salt
Spoon the fondue into the bread, replace the lid. Wrap tightly with several layers of heavy-duty foil and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 1 hour, or until cheese is melted. During the last half hour of cooking; toast bread cubes. Remove bread from foil and place on a bed of purple kale on a serving tray. Encircle with vegetables and toasted croutons.
CRUDITES
Prepare the crudites the day before, wash and cut into large bite-sized chunks and place in ziplock bags.
Broccoli, red, yellow and green pepper strips, zucchini, celery, cauliflower, green cauliflower
TOASTED CROUTONS
Place in 2 baking pans
16 – 20 oz. sourdough bread baguettes, cut into 1/2 ” slices (I buy 2 – 10 oz. bags of La Brea sliced sourdough baguettes at Smith’s grocery store and the bread removed from bread bowl cut into 1 1/2″ cubes
stir together
1/2 C butter, melted
1/4 C vegetable oil
Place in oven during the last half hour the fondue bakes. Remove when crisp but not hard.
WHAT-WAS-UNDER-THAT-ROCK TRIFLE?
This is a rich variation of the classic English dessert. It is pretty (scary) layered in a glass bowl and served with a new trowel or placed in a cauldron. Layer ganache (or substitute instant chocolate pudding made with 1½ cups milk), crumbled brownies, cheesecake filling, gummy worms, chopped nuts (optional) and crushed chocolate sandwich cookies. Top with meringue mushrooms and garnish with mint leaves or for a more festive look, candy rocks, gummy worms and spiders.
GANACHE
16 ounces good chocolate, chopped
1½ cup whipping cream
Melt chocolate over low heat. Add cream and stir well. Chill for 45 minutes, whip and set aside.
BROWNIES
Bake according to package directions a 9-by-13-inch pan of brownies. Set aside to cool, then crumble.
CREAM CHEESE FILLING
8 ounces whipping cream
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 8 ounce Neufchatel (light) cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
Whip together whipping cream, ¼ cup powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Fold in cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla.
Place in bowl and chill until time to use.
ASSEMBLY
Crush about 30 chocolate sandwich cookies and set aside. Chop and set aside 1 cup peanuts, walnuts or pecans (optional).
In the serving container, layer one third of the ganache, half of the brownies, half of the cream cheese filling and nuts. Tuck in a few gummy worms.
Repeat layers, top with ganache, crushed cookies and a few more gummy worms. Decorate with meringue mushrooms, candy rocks, mint leaves or parsley, gummy worms and spiders, if you dare!
MERINGUE MUSHROOMS
2 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
sprinkle of salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat egg whites until foamy.
Add cream of tartar, salt and vanilla and continuing beating. While the mixer is running, stir in ½ cup sugar one tablespoon at a time.
Continue to beat until the mixture is smooth, stiff and glossy, about 5 to 7 minutes. Place meringue mixture in a plastic zip seal bag, squeeze out excess air and seal. Cut off one corner to make a ½-inch opening.
When making meringue shapes, allow an inch or two around each piece for expansion while baking. Place the tip of the bag on the parchment and squeeze out six 1-inch to 2-inch stems (should be standing up). Enlarge the opening to ¾-inch and squeeze out caps in varying sizes.
Moisten your finger with water and smooth the points on top of the mushrooms to get a rounded top on the cap and flat top on the stems. Lightly sprinkle the caps with cocoa powder.
Bake in the center of the oven at 200 degrees for 1 hour to 1½ hours or until dry and dark cream in color.
Melt the chocolate chips in a glass bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir and heat another 30 seconds. Repeat until melted.
Dip the tops of the stems into melted chocolate, place on upturned caps. When chocolate sets, store mushrooms in airtight container or place on trifle. Stored in an airtight container, the mushrooms will keep for several weeks.
PUMPKIN PIE CAKE
Many like this rich dessert better than pumpkin pie!
CRUST
1 box yellow cake mix, with one cup reserved
1 egg
½ cup butter, melted
FILLING
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 29-ounce can pumpkin
1½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 12-ounce cans evaporated milk
TOPPING
½ cup sugar
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. From a box of yellow cake mix, remove one cup of dry mix and set aside for topping. Combine remaining cake mix with egg and melted butter.
Pat into the bottom of a 9-by-13 baking pan. Mix together eggs, pumpkin, sugar, salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and evaporated milk.
Pour over crust. Set aside.
Mix together reserved cup of cake mix, ½ cup sugar, 1½ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ cup softened butter and the pecans until the texture of corn meal and sprinkle over pumpkin filling.
Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes or until pumpkin is set. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
GLOWING PUNCHBOWL
Fit a silver punchbowl or cauldron with a clear plastic bowl liner (check discount or party stores). Place several activated glow sticks in the punchbowl and set the liner on top. Fill the liner with half white grape juice and half ginger ale, adding a few drops of green food coloring if you wish. Wearing gloves, float chunks of dry ice for a bubbling, steaming effect.
These delicious dishes should land you a prime spot in the Halloween hostess hall-of-fame. Happy Halloween!
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