Fondue-licious with a Taste of Thanksgiving

I have a small obsession. OK, maybe it is not so small...it is something that is frequently on my mind. In fact, last year for my birthday, my oh-so-wonderful friends took me on a surprise trip to a farm that specializes in this exquisite thing. Can you guess what it is yet?

For those who know me, this should be no mystery, as many of them share this obsession. And that is: CHEESE!!!

So, what's a girl to do when she has cheese on the brain? Throw a fondue party of course! This simple act of genius occurred last Thursday night and included many good friends plus the two star guests. Both delicious, both gone too soon.

For those of you out there who think that fondue is outside of their culinary realm, let me assure you - it is NOT. The ingredients are simple, the directions are simple and it takes a mere 20 minutes to have a fabulous and creative twist on dinner. So, I implore of you. Please. Make. Fondue. If you are a cheese-aholic like myself and you have not tried this yet, you are doing yourself and your family/friends a grave disservice.

"Georgia," you may say, "I do not have a fondue set!"

Well, although that is a small (yes, very small) concern, let me offer you some solace. Guess what time of the year it is? The holiday season, and holidays mean presents, so add it to your list. Plus, you can get a simple one at target for like $20. So take that.

We opted for two recipes from the Food Network website which sounded delicious and looked easy: Swiss Fondue and German Cheddar and Beer Fondue. The only substitutions were that in the Cheddar Beer recipe we used corn starch instead of flour and left out the kirsch in the Swiss recipe. As a general tip, make sure that you read the reviews provided when you get a recipe online. They are generally very helpful in picking something to make.

In addition, because Randi and I had seen this on Paula Deen's show earlier in the week and couldn't stop drooling we made Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake for dessert. This was absolutely fabulous and even better chilled as leftovers.

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake
9" x 13" pan

Ingredients

Cake:
1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened (we used low fat)
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey.

This meal was superb, scrumptious, delicious, amazing, stupendous...and all other words to describe that utterly satisfying feeling of full.

Try the cake out for Thanksgiving, it will be a fun change to a much loved holiday dessert!