Low sugar Peanut Butter Mousse fruit dip

Fruit dips: great way to increase fruit and veggie consumption.  Fortunately, I have been blessed with kids who love their fruits and veggies much better than I did as a child.  I have never had to resort to dips and dressings to get the veggies in them, much less the fruits.  But with all the peanut butter posts lately, I was having a craving.  I wanted it pretty simple though.  Enter PB mousse, a.k.a. fruit dip.  Okay, the kids can use the apples.  I'll use a spoon.  Well, it's really good with these sweet, juicy honeycrisp apples.  Wow.  If you like peanut butter, this could be a dangerous thing.  To lessen the damage, I took out most of the sugar.  I say most because I prefer Jif peanut butter.  Now they have a Natural variety that has done away with the partially hydrogenated fats that banished the original from my house.  This one is made with good old palm oil (not bad for you by the way) and sweetened with sugar and molasses.  And let's admit it:  Jif tastes best because it is sweet.  Welcome back, Jif my friend!  You can just as easily make this with real sugar or honey and use a completely natural peanut butter though.

Almost Sugar Free Peanut Butter Mousse (Fruit Dip)

1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese

2/3 cup (generous) creamy peanut butter (I highly recommend natural Jif for good creamy texture)

3 tbsp erythritol, powdered (you might need a bit more if you use an unsweetened PB)

scant 1/8 tsp stevia extract

½ tsp vanilla

¾ cup heavy whipping cream 

3 tbsp splenda (Splenda kills your gut flora, use stevia or more powdered erythritol)

In a medium bowl, cream together peanut butter and cream cheese.  Powder the erythritol in a coffee/spice grinder.  (To facilitate dissolving.)  Add powdered erythritol, stevia and vanilla to cream cheese mixture.  Mix for a few minutes.  It will be pretty stiff at first but will smooth out and fluff up as the sweetener dissolves into the mixture.  Set the mixture aside.  In another bowl combine splenda and cream.  (I like to use splenda in the cream to round out the flavor and because it dissolves easier, but use powdered erythritol or stevia if you don't like sucralose.)  Whip on low speed until slightly thickened, then high speed until fairly stiff peaks form.  Just don't make butter.  ☺  Fold and stir one large dollop of cream into the PB mixture to lighten it up, then fold in the rest in two or three batches.  Serve immediately with sliced fruit and celery, or chill for later consumption.  After school snack?  It will firm up slightly after chilling but will still be lusciously creamy. 

This is low sugar, but high calorie so don't go overboard.  Fortunately it's too rich to be able to do so easily.  ☺  Now go indulge that peanut butter craving.