HOT PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY DIPPING SAUCE

HOT PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY DIPPING SAUCE

Peanut butter, jelly and mustard, served hot as a dipping sauce, for your favorite toasted bread strips. A casual hors d’oeurve to serve when friends drop by unexpectedly. A delicious combination!

Serves 1, or as many as you’d like

Use equal parts of these 3 ingredients, then make as much as you want for as many people as you’re serving.

1 T. creamy style peanut butter

1 T. grape jelly

1 T. prepared yellow mustard

Toast 2 slices of your favorite bread. Cut into 1 inch wide strips.

Combine peanut butter, jelly and mustard in custard cup. Stir, microwave till hot, pour into a clean custard cup and serve with the toast strips. If you don’t have a microwave, place it in a metal measuring cup or small oven-proof container. Boil about 2 inches water in a small skillet or saucepan, and set the cup into the water. Cover and cook till melted.

Place cup on plate and surround with toast strips. Dip and eat.

Variation: Cracker Dip. Mix the peanut butter, grape jelly and mustard in a custard cup. Stir to deepen the color of the bright yellow of the mustard to a butterscotch/caramel color, while leaving a few small bits of jelly visible throughout. Do not heat, but also don’t use cold peanut butter. I served this with Black Pepper & Oil flavored Triscuit crackers. Just dip the cracker in the spread. Or make a platter: place the dip in the center and surround with crackers.

Notes: Frankly, as a kid I never liked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I think I’ve only had one in my entire life. Soft peanut butter, soft jelly, soft bread, was too much soft for me. I did like peanut butter on toast however, not as a sandwich, but open-faced. I still find it perplexing that people on T.V. often say about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, “what kid doesn’t love them?” This kid.

Well, this is as close as I get to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I’m loving it as an hors d’oeuvre! Hope you do to.