Fondue, or FUN-due?

Lame title, I know. But seriously, is there anything cheaper, more delicious, or more fun than fondue?

For those of you who aren't totally hip like me (or around for the 1970's), fondue is dipping stuff in hot, liquid stuff. Vague, I know, but that's essentially what it is. The liquid stuff can be oil, cheese, chocolate, white chocolate, anything dip-able.

Saturday night, instead of doing normal college homecoming activities, my friends Jessica, Rebecca, and I had chocolate fondue. Yeah, we're cool like that.

I've read a lot of recipes for chocolate fondue that require a lot of steps. Mine had three. Step one, remove chocolate frosting from tub and put in fondue bowl. Step two, melt in microwave. Step three, dip. Repeat until Nirvana is reached.

I use chocolate frosting for my fondue. It's cheap, and it tastes awesome. Rather than buying chocolate, cream, and everything else under the sun, I just buy off brand milk chocolate or any other kind of chocolate frosting. I paid a whole dollar for mine.

I saved some time, but not some money, for the things we dipped. The first item was a tub of frozen cream puffs ($4). They were mostly defrosted by the time we ate, and were so good dipped in the warm chocolate. I also bought a little container of fresh strawberries ($3.50). They were decent for the late time of year, but they tasted wonderful once they had a chocolate bath. The last thing I bought to dip was a fresh fruit tray ($12). It was expensive, but it saved me a lot of time. It had pineapple, grapes, granny smith apple slices, and a few other fruits. Pineapple and grapes were actually quite good dipped in the molten chocolate goodness.

The total cost, minus the fondue pot, was around $20. To feed 3 people beyond satisfied, I would consider this a really good price. If you cut up the fruit yourself, you would definitely save money. Since time was an option for me, I went the easy, expensive route.

If you are looking to entertain a few friends, definitely look into having a fondue party. A fondue pot can be picked up at most home goods stores, and are quite affordable. And if your friends have a good time, which mine did, you will get plenty of use out of it.