Chocolate Fondue with Fresh Fruit

Fondue is back, with good reason. It’s just plain fun, and it’s ridiculously easy to pull together. The rules are simple: Use the best chocolate and the best fruit you can find. Strawberries, bananas, pineapple, kiwi, melon, peaches, apricots, and candied ginger all work, as long as the pieces are big enough to spear easily. If you want to experiment a bit, try adding a ½ teaspoon cinnamon and ancho chili powder for some spice, ¼ teaspoon of espresso powder, a tablespoon or two of your favorite liqueur, or the seeds scraped from the inside of a vanilla bean.

½ cup of heavy cream, plus more as needed

12 ounces of good-quality bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

Splash of cognac, rum, bourbon, or kirsch (optional)

Chopped nuts (optional)

About 2 pounds assorted fruit (trimmed, peeled, pitted, and sliced as needed), for dipping

1 Put the cream in a saucepan over medium heat and just bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring until smooth. Add the liqueur and chopped nuts if you’re using them.

2 Transfer the chocolate mixture to a fondue pot with a low flame (or put in a heated bowl and eat within 15 minutes or so); if the fondue begins to feel a little stiff, add a little more cream and stir. Serve with fresh fruit for dipping.