Peanut Butter Carmel Dipping Sauce for Fruit
(this is great with Apple Slices)

Ingredients:

2 Cups Creamy Peanut Butter
1 Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Cups Nonfat vanilla Yogurt (Lowfat will work too)
1 Teaspoon Apple-Pie spice mix*
Optional: 1/3 cup of chopped Golden Raisins (Sultanas) or 1/3 cup currants.
Garnish - a dash of freshly grated Nutmeg & Mint leaves
4 Firm fleshed Apples such as Galas or Fuji, cored & sliced into wedges with the peel on.

In a saucepan, melt the butter and when melted, add in the brown sugar and dissolve. Remove from heat allow to cool down a bit. Stir in the Vanilla Yogurt and Apple Pie Spice. Beat until smooth and frothy. Add in the Peanut Butter and whip together until well blended and aerated. If desired, fold in the chopped Golden Raisins. Transfer to a bowl. Place the bowl on a platter and arrange apple slices around the bowl of dip. Just before serving, make a swirl pattern in the dip with a spoon, grate a small amount of fresh nutmeg on top, and garnish with mint leaves.


* If you do not have Apple Pie Spice Blend, you can make your own like this:

1 Teaspoons Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Allspice
1 Teaspoon Mace
Blend these together and you will get 4 teaspoons of Apple Pie Spice Blend.


Now, if you are lucky enough to have access to Golden Syrup (as opposed to Corn Syrup), you can make this with that instead of the Brown Sugar. If you do this, you can omitt the butter if you wish. The Golden Syrup adds a very nice flavor to the dip, somewhat reminiscant of a Sugar Daddy (an American confection which was a cross between a taffy and a lollipop)

Other variations include the addition of a quarter cup of Hershey's chocolate syrup or even one of those new Nestle Ice-Java Coffee Syrups. You may also add some Vanilla Paste to the original recipe to give it some more depth. You can also increase the amount of Nonfat vanilla yogurt if you wish a lighter tasting dip.

This dip is nice for Apples, Pears, Bananas, Kiwi and other firm fruits. It doesn't go so well with Peaches or nectarines, however.