Instructions

1. Prepare the warmed cheese spread as close as possible to the time when you'll serve it.

2. Pour the warmed cheese spread into a chafing dish with a lit can of jelled chafing fuel below the dish. Fuel cans usually last at least two hours and will keep the cheese spread warm for that whole time.

3. Preheat a slow cooker by filling it halfway with hot water and turning it on the low setting for at least a half-hour. When the cheese spread is ready, pour out the water and put the cheese spread into the slow cooker. Alternately, you may just heat the cheese spread in the slow cooker in the first place.

4. Plug in an electric fondue pot, turn it on for about five minutes to preheat it and then put the cheese spread in the pot. Leave the pot on a medium setting if it's mostly full, but turn it down as the cheese spread gets used up to avoid overheating it or burning the spread on the bottom.

5. Pour hot cheese spread into an insulated container with a lid and take it with you for a serving or two at a picnic or for a lunch or snack at work.

6. Add mayonnaise to the cheese spread if you can't keep it hot until it's served. The mayonnaise helps make the spread creamier and keeps it from hardening as much as it would without the mayonnaise.

7. Bake a cheese spread in a miniature Dutch oven or a thick ceramic baking dish. The dish holds heat well and keeps the spread warm for up to an hour after it comes out of the oven.