Hi all. I posted a similar item at the cooking thread, but thought I might try this one here. Hope you don't mind.

I asked for FONDUE recipes as I am going to a fondue party this Friday. I got a few great suggestions for cheese sauces.

Anybody have any ideas of what I could put together for a fondue dessert sauce? I was thinking something with heavy cream and Splenda, of course, but am kind of blocked at that point.

Would that type of mixture due well as a warm dipping sauce for fruits?

Thank you!

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Suzanne (Atkins - 1/9/04)
195/168/145

If you have good quality unsweetened chocolate, you can make ganache with chocolate, cream, and splenda. You might need to experiment a bit to make it work. Heat the cream but not to boiling, add small chunks of chocolate and stir until melted (take off heat) and stir in splenda (packets) until it's sweet enough. I have done this before but it might take a bit of tinkering to get it right. Be careful not to get any water in this. You can also put in a bit of flavoring extract like vanilla, orange, or other flavors into the cream before adding the chocolate. When it cools it can also be made into truffles and rolled in toasted hazelnuts or almonds. Reheat carefully in microwave for sauce--also good on ice cream.

Getting the amount of cream right is a real talent when making the ganache, one I never mastered. Use very little, a tablespoon, to start, and then add more as you need to to make it work. Just a tiny bit too much cream turns it from melted chocolate into a thin chocolate syrup that never hardens.

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"And so, in my State of the—my State of the Union—or state—my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation—I asked Americans to give 4,000 years—4,000 hours over the next—the rest of your life—of service to America. That's what I asked—4,000 hours."

I can't give you exact proportions because I'm not much for measuring, but I've used a block (8 oz.) of cream cheese, melted in the MW, with some sour cream (maybe a cup) and vanilla and sweetener - you could melt that all together and thin with cream if necessary. Then put into a fondue pot to keep warm.

It's great with strawberries and cubes of almond pound cake!

Char

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Veni, vidi, velcro. I came, I saw, I stuck around.

Save the Earth - it's the only planet with CHOCOLATE!

For many people the combination of Splenda and unsweetened chocolate is pretty vile. The addition of another sweetener (like erythritol or stevia) seems to help things out tremendously.

Here is a good thread on ganache:

http://www.atkinsbythebook.com/forum...showtopic=8239

Oh my word does that all sound splendid! I think I'm going to experiment with these things a bit tonight. Whatever works best on my stovetop will go the the party with me tomorrow!

Thank you to all for your delicious suggestions!

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Suzanne (Atkins - 1/9/04)
195/168/145

Boy, ain't that the truth! I just kept adding more & more liquid splenda to my mixture & it just kept getting nastier. Had to add some xylitol to save it from the disposal; much better!

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Karen
147/135 LF
135/127/117 LC

I seem to remember I'd had problems with it the first time, too. I fixed it, but don't remember how...maybe I added DaVinci syrup directly to the cream.

The problem with the melted chocolate / splenda combo is that it doesn't cut the bitterness of the pure chocolate very well. It can be VERY bitter, almost chemical tasting.

I've always wanted to get my hands on some edible cocoa butter and try making chocolate again. Cocoa butter is one of the big ingredients in Dove chocolates (my old fave, try not to think about it, try not to think about it...) It really would help, though, to have some other non-carb substance to cut the chocolate with, perhaps something buttery that would give it the right melting point.

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"And so, in my State of the—my State of the Union—or state—my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation—I asked Americans to give 4,000 years—4,000 hours over the next—the rest of your life—of service to America. That's what I asked—4,000 hours."

The other message board had some helpful information. I have both Valrhona and Callebaut unsweetened chocolate here at home. Haven't used them much lately because of the problems of sweetening them. But I'm sure I'll come up with something.

The cocoa butter sounds like a good idea. Here's one source I found:

http://shop.bakerscatalogue.com/deta...=1088143764571

Maybe the link will work now.

Heh, thanks Terra... I looked it up at baker's catalogue (the link doesn't work directly) and looked at the pic of the jar. "LorAnn Oils" was written on the side, so I looked up LorAnn Oils on the net and found a larger jar, 16 ounces for $16, from the manufacturer.

http://www.lorannoils.com/Productsde...01%20lb.%20JAR

I'm not in my chocolate experimentation mode right now, but if I was going to, I think I'd start there.

Here's what another site said about Lorann Cocoa Butter:

"Cocoa Butter (the essential ingredient in making chocolate) is the edible vegetable fat from cocoa beans, extracted during the manufacturing process (of making chocolate and cocoa powder). It has a mild chocolate aroma and flavor. It is cocoa butter that gives chocolate the ability to stay as a solid at room temperature, yet melt easily in the mouth.

It is also one of the most stable fats known. It contains natural antioxidants that actually prevent rancidity. It is very stable over long periods of time (2 to 5 years). In addition to being used for it's smooth texture in chocolate (& other foods), it's often an ingredient in cosmetics (including massage lotions) and soaps."

This really does sound like a good item to have if you're going to home experiment making sugar-free chocolate.

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"And so, in my State of the—my State of the Union—or state—my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation—I asked Americans to give 4,000 years—4,000 hours over the next—the rest of your life—of service to America. That's what I asked—4,000 hours."

I wonder why my link didn't work? Hmm. But you found a better price, anyway. Now I think I want some, too!

Gosh, people, now I am thinking about CHOCOLATE-making instead of fondue. To heck with the fondue!

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Suzanne (Atkins - 1/9/04)
195/168/145