Welcome Guest Heather Weidner! Virginia Peanut Brittle #Recipe & #Bookgiveaway

Molly MacRae: It’s my great pleasure to host Heather Weidner in the kitchen today. Boy, does she have a treat for you!

Heather Weidner: Thank you all so much for letting me stop by the Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen. I’m Heather Weidner, and I write where I know. All of my cozy mysteries and short stories are set in Virginia, so today I’d like to feature a fun, sweet, and salty recipe: 

Virginia Peanut Brittle

Ingredients:

2 cups of sugar

1 cup of corn syrup

 ½ cup water

2 cups of roasted, salted peanuts

2 tablespoons butter

1 ½ teaspoon of baking soda

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

 

Other Supplies:

Medium Saucepan

Parchment Paper

Sheet Pan

Candy Thermometer

 

 

Directions:

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. (I put a layer of tin foil under it to keep the hot liquid candy from seeping off the parchment.)

 

 

Mix peanuts, butter, baking soda, and vanilla. Set the mixture aside.

 

 

Mix sugar and water in a saucepan and stir well. Add the corn syrup. Use medium heat. You don’t want to heat it too fast. Stir until the mixture comes to a gentle boil.

 

Attach your thermometer to the pot. Cook until the temperature reaches 250 degrees F. Make sure you pay attention to the temperatures. The candy won’t harden to the expected consistency if the sugar is not cooked at the correct temperature.

 

Add the peanuts and stir until the temperature reaches 300 degrees F.

 

Remove the candy from the heat.

 

Pour the hot mixture in the pan. Be careful. Use a knife to spread the mixture evenly.

 

 

Allow the candy to set for 30 minutes. Break the candy apart. You can store the candy, when it’s cooled, in an airtight container.

 

Peanut brittle is a favorite vacation candy in a lot of tourist spots in the Commonwealth. Readers, what is your favorite candy or dessert from a trip or vacation?

 

The fourth book, Deadlines and Valentines, in the Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries launches in October. To celebrate, I’m giving away an e-book to the first book in the series, Vintage Trailers and Blackmailers. Giveaway open through noon Tuesday, 9/17/24.  

Let's keep in touch: 

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Through the years, Heather Weidner has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager. She writes the Pearly Girls Mysteries, the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries, The Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries, and The Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries. She blogs regularly with the Writers Who Kill.

 

Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Deadly Southern Charm, Murder by the Glass, and First Comes Love, Then Comes Murder, and she has non-fiction pieces in Promophobia and The Secret Ingredient: A Mystery Writers’ Cookbook.

 

Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers.

 

Links:

Website and Blog: http://www.heatherweidner.com

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/HeatherWeidner1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherWeidnerAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heather_mystery_writer/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8121854.Heather_Weidner

Amazon Authors: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00HOYR0MQ

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@heather_mystery_writer

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/HeatherWeidner1

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/heather-weidner-d6430278-c5c9-4b10-b911-340828fc7003