How to make the best vegetarian fondue ever.

When you think of fondue, you probably think of cheese. I know I do. I wanted to do something brie based because brie is yummy, so I searched for brie based recipes and found one I liked. It seemed like a simple thing to do at the time...

The problem? I couldn't find one of the main ingredients ANYWHERE. Dried mushrooms of some sort. Then, I found 4 (yes, 4) other recipes that looked delicious, so I kind of mashed them all together. Three of the recipes were not specifically for a crock pot, so I had pretty much no idea how long I was supposed to cook anything.

"Brie with mushrooms and cranberries fondue" (6 quart pot)

1/2 cup dry white wine (I used a sauvignon blanc)

2 T butter

3.5 oz shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and finely chopped

1 shallot, finely chopped

1/4 c dried cranberries, finely chopped

A wedge of brie minus the rind, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (the wedge I grabbed was .64 lb)

1 T cornstarch

Add wine to crock pot. Cook UNcovered on high for 30 minutes.

While that's cooking, saute butter, mushrooms, shallot, and cranberries. ( I actually did this earlier this afternoon when kiddo was napping and then stuck the mixture in the fridge for a few hours.)

When I removed it from the fridge, it looked like this:

Toss cheese cubes in cornstarch until fully covered. (Supposedly, this is to keep the brie from separating.)

Place cheese in crock pot and stir occasionally as it melts. (I stirred it about every 10 minutes for a half hour.)

Whisk, then cover and cook on high for 30 minutes. 

Add mushroom mixture.

Cover and cook on low for another hour.

Serve with...stuff. We had crackers, breadsticks, portabello mushrooms, and broccoli.

 This was absolutely delicious. I wish I'd doubled it. tripled it. Quadrupled it. My other half thinks it'd be awesome as a stuffing for chicken. I will most definitely be making this again.

I have a new favorite vegetarian dip/fondue! (and should really experiment more often...)