Cornbread-Topped Chili Con Carne & Chocolate Fondue

You've heard me talk about it. I've already told y'all to go download the recipe and get cooking.  Nigella Lawson's Cornbread-Topped Chili Con Carne is, in my mother's words, to die for. Now, the ingredients aren't anything to marvel over. Fairly standard for an outside-of-Texas chili. However, one thing Nigella adds in makes this chili incredible.

Cocoa.

{Nigella's Cornbread-Topped Chili Con Carne}*

Ingredients:

4 onions,  2 cloves garlic,  4 tablespoons olive oil,  2 teaspoons crushed chiles,  2 teaspoons ground coriander, 2 teaspoons ground cumin, 5 cardamom pods,  2 red peppers, 1.5kg minced beef (We used ground turkey), 4 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes,  8 tablespoons tomato ketchup, 8 tablespoons tomato puree,  250ml water,  2 tablespoons cocoa, and 2 x 400g cans red kidney beans. 

*The rest of the recipe can be found in the link at the top of this post. 

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• Then, she puts cinnamon and honey in the cornbread topping! So smart, that Nigella! After following her directions, you should come out with something glorious like this!

Look at those crusty, cheesy bubbles!

 Then, plated, it looks like this lump of majesty. 

After eating way too much of the chili, we took a break before making our special dessert. I know you had been waiting for it, and here it is! We made chocolate fondue!

Ingredient display, Pioneer Woman Style.

 And yes, I chose to use Ghiradelli chocolate. Who can blame me?

We gathered the best of what we had for dipping.

Lightly salted pretzels.

Honeycrisp apple wedges.

Mini Marshmallows.

Graham Crackers.

...and Swiss Cake Rolls. You can't leave out Little Debbie!

 The 'hardware.'

 The setup. 

We toasted to the new year with Bailey's and whiskey-glass ice cubes.