Shamus Ian Fatzinger/ Fairfax County Times
A photo of Bobbie Pontzer's mother Jane is surrounded by the peanut brittle made from Jane's recipe.
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Old-fashioned sweetness in Vienna
Betty Jane’s Sweet Delights sticks to traditional treats
Finding a local purveyor of good, old-fashioned peanut brittle is like scoring a home run for anyone with a candy sweet tooth.
That would be Bobbie and John Pontzer’s home-based business in Vienna called Betty Jane’s Sweet Delights.
And the name? That was her mother’s name, and the business is named in honor of her, Bobbie said.
As it turns out, Betty Jane made perhaps the most tempting and delicious peanut brittle imaginable, a product that has honored the Pontzers with recognition as one of “Virginia’s finest” businesses. “Our only product now is her recipe,” Bobbie said.
The recipe has been a family secret ever since Betty Jane created it by tweaking a standard recipe to achieve a product that was lighter and less sticky than the typical brittle. “It’s a lighter texture than most,” Bobbie said. “Also, it doesn’t stick to teeth. Most brittles are much thinner, flatter and harder. Ours is thicker…and looks lighter as it is chock full of as many peanuts as I can put in.”
Her mother used to give the peanut brittle as a gift to family and friends, who always praised it.
“People said to me, ‘You have got to do something with it,’” she said.
Deciding that the time had come in her life and health care and consulting career, Bobbie gathered up her nerve, and with her husband’s help field-tested several batches of the brittle at some local stores. “The brittle flew off the shelves,” she said. “People loved it.”
With that affirmation, the business planning began in earnest. “We didn’t just wake up and say, ‘I am going to quit today,’” Bobbie said. “We did a lot of planning, I knew we had to with a food-based business to get off ground. … We decided to make it at home in a licensed kitchen. That was not part of original plan, but it keeps overhead down. Commercial kitchens are expensive to rent, and I would have to haul the equipment and supplies in and out.”
With kitchen having passed inspection, the business took off. Then Bobbie found that one of her biggest challenges was space. “When I am in production mode,” she said, “my kitchen is just that, the factory.” Fortunately, the brittle does not require refrigeration, a big plus since she often stocks 500 pounds ready for sale, she said.
“In March alone, I can sell 750 pounds,” she said.
In a year, she produces and sells two and a half tons of brittle.
Although she may start cooking at 5 a.m. and work until midnight during busy times, Bobbie vowed that hers always will be a hand-crafted product, with Bobbie or staff stirring the big kettle of boiling sugar while readying the next batch to cook. “We do all packing, bagging and labeling,” she said, “so I do get seasonal help in spring and increase our hours from mid-summer through the holidays. My husband really helps us, too.”
It’s a full-time business, she said, and she often works 7 days a week.
“I love it. I have no regrets, and the funny thing is, it’s a business in honor of mom,” she said.
Betty Jane’s Sweet Delights is available at the Pontzers’ website, www.BettyJanesSweetDelights.com.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
As Bobbie Pontzer said, “Here's one of my mom's recipes. … We used to make a double batch all the time, since there were seven kids. This recipe is one of the first things I learned how to bake; it will always be a favorite.
Makes three dozen
Cream Together:
1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
Add:
2 eggs, beat well
Add:
1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 teaspoon of hot water
Add:
1 teaspoon vanilla
Separately mix the following dry ingredients:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups oats
1 (12-ounce) package chocolate chips, raisins, or both (may substitute raisins or mix both)
1 cup nuts, preferably chopped walnuts
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients with the above ingredients. Drop by teaspoon on cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.