Peanut Butter Topping

I don't eat much ice cream, and when I'm on my own I never keep it around. My parents' freezer is well stocked with it, though, and they often have sundaes for dessert. I've been allowing them to make me sundaes, too (see how magnanimous I am? I don't refuse their offer of ice cream nor do I deny them the joy of making sundaes for me. You can see why they keep me around).

If you're eating ice cream in a bowl, it has to be a sundae, which means it has to have some kind of topping. We use both hot fudge and caramel. "Amazing," you say, right? "What more could you need?"

I'm glad you asked.

I don't know why I thought of it recently, but all of a sudden I needed peanut butter topping, like the stuff you can get at Friendly's, but why would I want to actually go to Friendly's? I figured there must be a recipe online and I could make it myself. Then I could eat it. Then I could make some more and give it as a gift to my sister, who loves it at least as much as I do, and that way I could feel less greedy since I wouldn't be making peanut butter topping for myself per se, I'd just be testing it on myself so it'd be great when I gave it to her. Self-justification complete!

But her birthday's not until September and her Christmas isn't until December, so screw it, let's just ruin the surprise now. She'll have to make it herself, but at least this way she can pour it into her St. Paddy's Day Mint Milkshake tomorrow since I know she's got a weird thing for mint + peanut butter combos.

There weren't too many recipes out there, and even fewer had actual user feedback, so after extensive, exhaustive, grueling peanut butter topping recipe research, here's the one I went with at allrecipes.com.

Warning: do not use the recipe as listed! This is why I wanted a recipe with user feedback: almost all of the commenters exclaimed that the topping came out way too sweet. I mean, it calls for an entire CUP of white sugar to only 1/2 a cup of peanut butter. What insanity is that? So here is the revised recipe, as suggested by a few commenters and now verified by Your Pal, Adam:

Peanut Butter Topping for Ice Cream:

1/3 C sugar
1/3 C water
2/3 C smooth peanut butter

Mix together the white sugar and water in a small saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil; boil for one minute. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter until melted and well blended. Use a whisk or hand-blender to whip it into a nice thick sauce. Pour the warm sauce over ice cream to serve.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but this was absolutely delicious. My mom doesn't dig peanut butter the way the rest of us do, but even she enjoyed the taste she had. This made enough for a couple servings of leftovers even after my dad and I had a generous helping each -- with my mom's homemade hot fudge, of course. Sundae-making 101: always combine toppings when you have the opportunity because More = Better^2. While peanut butter topping alone is superior to hot fudge or caramel, together any of those forms an unstoppable duo (or trio if you're just gettin' wild with it). I'll let you know if there are any serious issues with reheating it after refrigerating it, but I don't expect there to be a problem.

This recipe is excellent, involves three simple ingredients, and takes roughly three minutes to throw together: one minute to bring sugar-water to a boil, one minute of boiling, and one minute of stirring/whipping. Now you have no reason to go to Friendly's. You do have another reason to exercise. (Sorry about that one.)

Edit, March 18, 2011:

The sauce keeps very well in a covered bowl in the fridge. It might have been even thicker the second time around, so if you find while microwaving it that you need to soften it up don't hesitate to stir a splash of water in there. See? It's getting healthier already.