Hot Honey #recipe from Molly MacRae

 

Hot honey is a simple recipe for a condiment with an exciting flavor profile. I used it as a drizzle over a roasted squash and chickpea dish. Amazing! I’ll post that recipe closer to Thanksgiving. In the meantime, you can use hot honey anywhere you want a bit of sweet with a bit of heat—hot toddies, cornbread, ice cream, roasted corn, roasted carrots, popcorn, fruit kababs, salad dressing—so many options.

There are almost as many options for varying the honey’s flavor. Substitute sprigs of rosemary. Add orange or lemon peel. Try crushed fennel or coriander seeds. Instead of crushed red peppers, toss in a whole, fresh jalapeño, serrano, or other pepper. If you prefer, you can strain out the solids. You can easily halve the recipe, too, which I did and then wished I hadn’t – not only is it that tasty, but then I would have had a pretty picture of the hot honey in a jar for this post. Instead we ate it all up.

 

Hot Honey

(adapted from All Recipes)

 

Ingredients

1/2 cup honey

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

 

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to boil. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature to let flavors infuse, about 30 minutes. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

 

Coming in June 2025!

There’ll be Shell to Pay

Haunted Shell Shop book 2

 

When she’s not selling seashells by the North Carolina seashore from her shell shop, Maureen Nash is a crime-solving sleuth with a ghost pirate for a supernatural sidekick . . .

Maureen is still getting used to life on Ocracoke Island, learning how to play the “shell game” of her business—and ghost whispering with the spirit of Emrys Lloyd, the eighteenth-century Welsh pirate who haunts her shop, The Moon Shell. The spectral buccaneer has unburied a treasure hidden in the shop’s attic that turns out to be antique shell art stolen from Maureen’s late husband’s family years ago.

Victor “Shelly” Sullivan and his wife Lenrose visit the shop and specifically inquire about these rare items. Not only is it suspicious that this shell collector should arrive around the time Maureen found the art, but Emrys insists that Sullivan’s wife is an imposter because Lenrose is dead. A woman’s corpse the police have been unable to identify was discovered by the Fig Ladies, a group who formed an online fig appreciation society. They’re meeting on Ocracoke for the first time in person and count Lenrose among their number, so the woman can’t possibly be dead.

But Lenrose’s behavior doesn’t quite match the person the Fig Ladies interacted with online. Now, Maureen and Emrys—with assistance from the Fig Ladies—must prove the real Lenrose is dead and unmask her mysterious pretender before a desperate murderer strikes again . . .

“I recommend Come Shell or High Water to readers who are looking for a new series full of great eccentric characters, an island getaway, and spectral shenanigans. I also was delighted at the use of one of my favorite pun-based exclamations being a shell of a lot throughout the book. Truly, Come Shell or High Water is a shell of a good time.” —Aunt Agatha’s Bookshop

 

Writing as Margaret Welch

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Instagram or Bluesky.