Christmas Gifts - Smoking / Making

[illini40]

Looking forward to Christmas, what are some of your favorite things to smoke/make to give to friends and family during the holidays?

Last year, I did some simple restructured jerky for friends and it was a hit. Curious for some more ideas.

 

[bill1]

Maybe nuts.
Anyone ever tried smoking (instead of baking) the classic Chex Party Mix snack? I skip the pretzels and use extra nuts instead. Thinking that might be a good non-meat smoker candidate.

addendum: There are several party mix recipes out there with varying levels of "heat".

 

[jcam222]

For my keto friends I am making sugar free Kahlua and Baileys Irish Cream. I also plan on doing vanilla extract. Hoping to start some Canadian bacon brining as well.

 

[Murray]

Maybe nuts.
Anyone ever tried smoking (instead of baking) the classic Chex Party Mix snack? I skip the pretzels and use extra nuts instead. Thinking that might be a good non-meat smoker candidate.

addendum: There are several party mix recipes out there with varying levels of "heat".

I have made and smoked a party mix, heavy on the dill no other spice. Smoked with pellets for 40 minutes, 200F for 2 hours. The 40 minutes was too much smoke for my wife, I thought it was just right. Next time it will be a full 2 hour smoke with dust, that should tame the smoke for her.

 

[Baconyoulikeapig]

Smoked cheese is always a great gift to give! (And receive)

 

[daspyknows]

Home made cannabis candies since it is legal in California. Very popular at a gift exchange.

 

[tx smoker]

Looking forward to Christmas, what are some of your favorite things to smoke/make to give to friends and family during the holidays?

It's always a ton of fun making unique things to share with friends and family members...things they aren't likely to find any place else. Last year I did a project that garnered a huge amount of attention and positive feedback here in the forum. This project was made possible with a massive amount of help from a couple of great folks within the forum. It was garlic and herb infused olive oil. Here is the link. It is a lengthy read but there's a very exacting but super simple process that must be followed to ensure safety but makes for great gifts

Making Garlic & Herb Infused Olive Oil And Pepper Vinegar: Full Tutorial W/ Lotsa Pics

Couple notes: this is going to be very long and highly detailed. It's not really about canning or preserving so don't know if it should go into that sub-forum. The bottles I'm using are too small to put a pig or cow in so I'm gonna stay away from my two most trusted forums. This seems like a...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

I cannot tell you how much this was enjoyed by people. Doing it again this year and have already sent out several packages of it and have another dozen bottles done which are ready to ship out.

This year I went a totally different direction. This also has gotten some very good reviews from the few people that have tried the finished product. I only started with a small amount of product since I didn't know what to expect. Just placed another huge order yesterday to expand on this one.

A New Experiment: Smoked Hatch Chili Seasoned Pistachios (Pics)

I've been bouncing around some ideas with a few forum friends about some stuff to do homemade to share with people for Christmas presents. It's fun to do unique and interesting things that people will enjoy. At one point in the conversation the subject of smoked pecan and walnuts came up. That...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

This noted the first batch I tried. Since these were done I've also made garlic and onion, jalapeno and onion, Old Bay, and Ranch. Oh I also did a batch for a forum friend using the insane pepper spice mix that's been a work in progress for 15 years. I won't go into the dialog from him but suffice it to say, he loved them. Bad pic but here are a couple of the bags packed up and ready to ship out.

Here is another one I'm doing this year. Nothing posted about it but should be a fun project for those that like to cook and/or make BBQ. This is the second round I made up. The first batch was received a couple of days ago by a forum member who I've gotten to be good friends with and we share stuff every Christmas.

Five of these are my recipes I've put together. The Original and Texas Rub are Jeff's, founder of the forum. Got the 14 oz. shaker jars from Amazon and they work great!! I'll probably wind up sending out several more packages of these.

Hope these help with some ideas.

Robert

 

[JC in GB]

I am giving a sausage sampler to gift recipients this year. Each person gets a 1lb pack of Blue Ribbon Brats, General Tso's brats, Cajun sausage, and smoked summer sausage.

JC

 

[tx smoker]

I am giving a sausage sampler to gift recipients this year.

I love, love, LOVE this concept. The only problem for me is that the vast majority of the folks I send stuff to are half way across the country. I'm just not comfortable shipping fresh sausages and sadly the cost of shipping two day air with everything frozen and packed in ice blocks is prohibitive. I do share some with local friends though and it's always a big hit with them. Great suggestion!!

Robert

 

[SmokinAl]

For my friends I usually give them lox, and smoked cheese. It seems to be something they would not normally buy but very much appreciate! My neighbor who gets a big plate of lox every time I make it brought over a $400 bottle of Scotch for us to sip on. We drank about 3/4 of the bottle. So there is payback!
Al

 

[bbqbrett]

My go to is either smoked almonds or smoked cheese.

 

[noboundaries]

Just whipped up a 5 minute bottle of Irish Cream using a familiar recipe. Irish Cream and the holidays just go together. This bottle is for me.

Will roast coffee for gifts. Possibly nuts. Will also smoke caseless pepperoni.

I've been perfecting Anise Seed and Black Pepper Butter Cookies dipped in white chocolate for gifts. Three delicious attempts and I've got them nailed.

I received a gift decades ago on the ship of crunchy black pepper cookies. They were packed and taped in a previously used can of Chock Full of Nuts Chicory coffee. LOVED THEM! It's always been a mystery who sent them. Over the years I've tried several recipes that weren't even close. Just found a spicy Gingerbread cookie recipe that uses a lot of black pepper. Time to try another recipe! It it works, they'll go on the gift making list.

If anyone wants to send me a $400 bottle of scotch, it won't go to waste!