There’s just something special about a handwritten recipe. I always enjoy pilfering through my mom’s recipe box and looking at the various recipes that she collected over the years. Some were written by her, probably copied from a magazine or newspaper article, and some were written for her by other people. In my own collection, I have recipes on post-it notes or scribbled on notepad paper. And I have a few like this Hearts of Palm Dip that were written down for me by other people.
This recipe was given to my husband as part of a Christmas gift. The giver, a lady named Donna, included her handwritten recipe in a beautiful Bybee Pottery bowl along with a small jar of mayonnaise, small jar of grated parmesan cheese, and a can of hearts of palm. I had never seen a gift set like that before though now there’s tons of these gift ideas on Pinterest and I’d never heard of hearts of palm. I was excited to try out this dish because I love a good dip.
Hearts of palm have a mild flavor and is very similar to artichoke hearts. You can easily sub artichoke hearts for this dish if you have trouble finding hearts of palm. I changed the recipe a little from Donna’s in that I use shredded parmesan rather than grated and I add in some garlic for some extra punch. It’s excellent served warm with crackers or my current obsession: pretzel crisps.
Sadly, Donna passed away a few years ago. I cherish her handwritten recipe card and am happy that I can share this food memory with y’all.
Hearts of Palm Dip
1 cup Hellman’s mayonnaise (I use light)
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 jar of hearts of palm marinated in water (the jar I used was a little over 14 ounces)
1 tsp chopped garlic.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Finely chop the hearts of palm. Reserve the liquid in the jar.
Next, mix chopped hearts of palm with the cheese, mayo and about one-third of the reserved liquid. Mix well and pour into a small casserole dish that’s been sprayed with cooking spray. The dish I used is probably an 8-inch diameter round dish.
Bake for approximately 30 minutes until bubbly and golden brown. When the dish is bubbly and almost completely brown, I like to add some additional shredded parmesan and put the dish on broil for a few minutes to melt the cheese.
Let cool slightly and serve warm. Reheats well.
If you like warm dips, be sure to check out my Hot Crab Dip as well!