Chocolate Fondue Fountain Recipes: Peanut Butter Chocolate Fondue

My tween daughter purchased a chocolate fondue fountain for the family as a Christmas gift, and the device has been a lot of fun for the entire family. If you are looking for a great, fun, holiday gift for family members, particularly family gifts for households which include kids, then a small chocolate fountain is a great idea!

In reading through the basic information about the new fountain, the kids also discovered that it can be used for barbecue sauce, cheese sauces, and different types of dipping sauces. It appears that the small appliance is well suited to innovation, which didn't take us long to discover, at all.

**In order to run well, your dip needs to be thinned a bit. An addition of chocolate chips alone, melted, is just a little thick for the smoothest operation. Add 1-2 Tablespoons of melted vegetable shortening, per 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips, in order to achieve a slightly thinner mixture. Further, it is important to recognize that the fountain mechanism will not work well without sufficient material to fill the basin of the device. It takes at least 3 bags, 12 oz. each, of chocolate chips to accomplish this in our small fondue fountain. You will need to work with your own chocolate fountain to determine what is required.

In an effort to use less chocolate, and hopefully less money, one day, we thought of adding peanut butter to the chocolate chips, in order to accomplish a different flavor, and to enjoy the fun at a lesser cost.  Using 2 bags of chocolate chips, and 2 cups of creamy peanut butter, we nearly had it right.  However, we still needed the thinning effect of the shortening to make the fountain run smoothly.  Hence, the ingredients are:

24 oz. chocolate chips

2 c. creamy peanut butter

3-6 Tbsp. vegetable shortening, melted

Add the ingredients gradually to the basin, with only the heat on.  If you prefer to do a little pre-melting, you can warm the ingredients in 30 second increments in a bowl, in the microwave, stirring after each 30 seconds.  Once the ingredients are sufficiently melted in the basin of the fondue fountain, turn on the spinning mechanism.  It will take a few moments, but soon, your peanut butter chocolate dip will be flowing easily. 

Dipping marshmallows into this particular fondue brought back memories of a "Martha Washington Candy" recipe my Mom used to make, using chocolate chips, butter, peanut butter, coconut, nuts, and mini marshmallows.  I will write another hub on that if I can get a copy of the recipe.  The flavor was so familiar, I thought it might make a fun President's Day activity for the kids if we make the candy, and do the fondue fountain mix as well, comparing the two.

There are many ways you can tweak this recipe, using white chocolate chips, or butterscotch, or a combination of different kinds. For dipping, marshmallows are great, as are pretzels and potato chips. Pieces of fruit are a great choice, as well, for dipping in your fondue. Cut some strawberries carefully, and achieve a heart shape. Banana slices are delicious dipped in chocolate, and as well in the peanut butter chocolate fondue. You can be as creative as you choose. The kids will love this as a Valentine's treat, a fun activity on a snowy or dreary day, or as a fun center of attention at a Christmas party. Regardless of when you use your fondue fountain, everyone will enjoy!