The Chop Is in the Mail
What’s the best thing about the holidays? The food. The worst? Racing from store to store to buy it. So to help you save time—and keep your sanity—I’ve tasted smoked turkeys, buttermilk pies, and the like from more than one hundred Texas companies that will ship them to your door. Needless to say, my favorites are first-class.
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Backroads Bakery Fried Pies Gordon
You gotta love a company that started out in a home kitchen on, yes, a back road in West Texas. These chubby little fried pies—made with thick, crumbly, cakelike crusts—come in six flavors. I homed in on the buttermilk and the apple (with small, chunky slices), but the cherry, apricot, pineapple, and peach are fine too. This is a great gift for a bunch of kids. Twenty-five pies $30. 254-693-5454 or backroadsbakery.com.
Goode Company Pecan Pie Houston
“Even the goo is good,” exulted one of the ravenous crew that attacked this pie when we put it up for grabs in the office kitchen. I agree, and the crumbly crust and toasty pecan halves raise it above the competition. Plus, it comes in a cute pine box stamped with the company’s motto: “You might give some serious thought to thanking your lucky stars you’re in Texas.” $27.50. 800-627-3502 or goodecompany.com.
Heritage Pie Company Apple Pie Jasper
This is one tall pie. A slice could feed a family for a week—and no wonder, since each pie contains about a dozen apples. The fruit is sliced thin so that the sweet, well-cinnamoned juices flow around each piece. Equally important, these juices are thickened the home-style way with flour instead of gummy cornstarch. $34.95. 877-816-1400 or heritagepies.com.
Original Ya-Hoo Baking Company Cinnamon Streusel Butternut Coffee Cake Sherman
On Christmas morning, when you’re opening gifts around the tree, you’ll need something to keep up your strength. Ya-Hoo’s ring-style coffee cake, shot through with buttery streaks of cinnamon and gilded with a streusel-and-chopped-pecan topping, is your solution. The texture is moist and properly coarse, just like homemade. $22.95. 888-869-2466 or yahoocake.com.
Royers Round Top Cafe Original Buttermilk Pie Round Top
Royers has the best, flakiest crusts of any mail-order pies I’ve ever eaten, bar none. Homemade classics, they’re tender and beautiful, like the pies cooling on the windowsill of the seven dwarfs’ house in Walt Disney’s Snow White. Of all the pies that Royers ships, the buttermilk is my favorite—pale gold and creamy, with just the right amount of nutmeg. $22.95. 877-866-7437 or royersroundtopcafe.com.
Sticky Toffee Pudding Company Sticky Toffee Pudding Austin
The idea comes from the Lake District of England, but this exotic concoction tastes like something out of 1001 Arabian Nights. Finely puréed dates, soaked in vanilla and espresso, are the secret ingredient. Despite the name, the confection resembles a sponge cake more than a pudding. As for the lush accompanying brown-sugar-and-pecan sauce, think melted toffee. Four servings with toffee sauce $15. 512-472-0039 or stickytoffeepuddingcompany.com.
CHOCOLATES
Brown Paper Chocolates Houston
The strangest and most delightful chocolates I found are these two-inch-square solid chocolate cubes accented with fruit or nuts and tucked into little brown boxes. Some flavors are exotic, like the fragrant and salty white chocolate blended with lavender and Pimm’s #1 and dusted with fleur de sel (available by request). But less challenging ones are offered too, such as dark chocolate with Kahlua and crunchy cocoa nibs. Six cubes $48. 832-526-7967 or brownpaperchocolates.com (click on “Special Orders”).
Expressions Fine Artisan Chocolates Austin
Totally indulgent, Expressions’ champagne-chocolate truffles—one of many flavors—are crowned with tidbits of edible gold leaf. Its florentines (which are a bit like pieces of toffee) are made with combinations of toasted almonds, pecans, and coconut. Many cool gift boxes with fanciful names are offered. Three-ounce “zen” box $5. 888-263-7741 or expressionsfinechocolates.com.
Fat Turkey Chocolate Company Chocolates Austin
Stuck in a boring class, Jennifer Flood doodled a hand turkey. Voilà, her future company’s name was born. Luckily, there is nothing turkey about these dark chocolate bonbons, in flavors ranging from Irish cream to habanero–añejo tequila. Box of twelve $27. 800-834-3498 or fatturkeychocolate.com.
Roscar Bonbons and Country Truffles Bastrop
What is it with lavender and chocolate these days? Here’s another version, one of more than a dozen flavors of beautifully handcrafted bonbons (hard shell, soft center) and truffles (soft throughout). You can go wild with lime-tequila-jalapeño and creamy pumpkin pie. Or stick with soothingly familiar raspberry. The beribboned gift boxes are charming. Box of eight truffles and fifteen bonbons $38. 512-303-1500 or roscar.com (click on “FYI”).
CONDIMENTS & SNACKS
Austinuts Salted Deluxe Nuts Austin
Sometimes you feel like a nut, which is when you should try this premier assortment of crisp, dry-roasted pecan halves, almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamia nuts, and pistachios, one of scores of selections. $11.99 a pound. 877-329-6887 or austinuts.com.
Fischer & Wieser Original Roasted-Raspberry Chipotle Sauce Fredericksburg
Cream cheese never had a better friend than this sweet, zesty sauce, which is, along with chile con queso, all but obligatory at Texas holiday parties. 15.75-ounce jar $8.95. 800-880-8526 or jelly.com.
Hudson’s on the Bend Guava and Sour Cherry Sauce Austin
A robust, tangy-sweet sauce for pork, ham, and yes, cream cheese, this one has guava, which gives it an interesting, tropical flavor. 12.75-ounce jar $14. 800-996-7655 or hudsonsonthebend.com.
Mikeska Peppered Beef Jerky El Campo
Unlike others, this jerky will never be mistaken for a dog’s chew toy. It strikes a nice balance between moist and dry, and the flavor is reminiscent of pastrami. $19.95 a pound. 800-388-2552 (orders may be e-mailed from the Web site, mikeskabbq.com).
Tank Town Rainwater Dripping Springs
Anybody who misses the Lone Star State needs a bottle of real Texas rainwater. This particular cloud juice falls over Central Texas skies and is bottled in Dripping Springs. (Full disclosure: The company is owned by Richard Heinichen, husband of Texas Monthly writer-at-large Suzy Banks, but we’d like the water even if we didn’t know them.) Twelve 1-liter bottles or twenty-four 16-ounce bottles $35 (shipping is included). 512-894-0861 or rainwatercollection.com.
Texas Traditions Jalapeño Pepper and Prickly Pear Cactus Jellies Georgetown
This is the prettiest jalapeño jelly we tried, with flecks of chiles and bell peppers floating confetti-like in a yellow-green base. Expect medium heat, extreme sweetness, and a faintly salty undertone. Texas Traditions also cooks up a jelly made from pure cactus-fruit juice, sugar, and lemon. The color of tea, it tastes a bit like grape jelly with the subtlest hint of coffee—odd but fun. Ten-ounce jar $7.50. 800-547-7062 or texastraditions.com.
Spiceburst Salts Austin
Packaged in clever raffia-tied bottles with teeny wooden spoons attached, Spiceburst’s coarse Portuguese sea salt is mixed with truly fresh herbs and spices. Inhale deeply to appreciate orange with rosemary, chile with lime, dark roasted garlic, chipotle, and za’atar (a Middle Eastern spice mix). Three 3-ounce jars $20. 512-419-9463 or spiceburst.com.
Bee Cave Honey Company Honeys Austin
Lovely scents arise from these whipped honeys, which are blended with lemon, orange, strawberry, raspberry, or cinnamon. They go great on waffles, in hot tea, or as a glaze over roasted meats. Three 8.25-ounce jars $32 (shipping is included). 512-328-7780 or beecavehoney.com.
Fat Turkey Chocolate Company Chocolate-Covered Coffee Beans and Habanero Sauce Austin
These compulsively snackable coffee beans don’t look like the same old same old (each one wears a twee chocolate “ruffle”). The company’s salsa is—surprise—actually a terrific chocolate sauce with essence of habanero and aged tequila. Warning: It delivers a kick in the pants, friends. Three-ounce jar of beans or eight-ounce jar of salsa $10. 800-834-3498 or fatturkeychocolate.com.
Kakawa Chocolate-Covered Cocoa Beans Austin
High-quality whole cocoa beans nestle inside a triple coating of dark, milk, and white chocolate dusted with cocoa. They deliver a serious crunch and lots of texture. Twelve-ounce bag $28. cocoapuro.com.
Love Creek Orchards Cider Sauce Medina
Think apple pie in a jar. Love Creek Orchards’ thin, toasty-brown sauce has a ton of nutmeg and cinnamon and comes in a simple glass bottle. I like it best on ice cream. Fourteen-ounce bottle $6.95. 800-449-0882 or lovecreekorchards.com.
Oliver Pecan Company Pecan Honey Butter San Saba
Pancakes and sopaipillas everywhere are begging for this dense, nutty spread thickened with finely ground pecans. Eleven-ounce jar $5. 800-657-9291 or oliverpecan.com.
Orleans Pralines Houston
As sweet as your darling’s kiss, these pralines are whipped up from caramelized sugar, cream, butter, vanilla, and pecans. They’re the crisp-but-soft kind; chewy-praline fans must seek elsewhere. Tin of six to eight pralines about $13. 713-523-8003.
Sweet and Simple Cookie Company Pan de Polvo Cookies Laredo
Light but outrageously rich, these Mexican cinnamon-sugar shortbread cookies are delicate and crunchy at the same time. Baker’s dozen $8.95. 956-712-4116 or sweetandsimplecookies.com.
Research by Brooke Ferguson See additional items.
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