Last year I gave a coworker some homemade maple spiced nuts. Toast 2 cups of assorted nuts in a pan on the stovetop. Mix together 1/4 cup maple syrup, sea salt, rosemary and chili pepper (all to taste) in a small bowl and pour over nuts. Toss to coat and let simmer for (maybe) 1 minute until most of the liquid is gone. Let cool on greased wax paper and that's it. Huge hit! I'm making them again this year.

I am going to make cheddar shortbread for my Dad. Epicurious has a recipe.

A neighbor once gave my family homemade rosemary potato chips and onion dip. They were a big hit.

Cheddar shortbread?? Homemade rosemary potato chips??

Be still my heart.

Hand made prezels and fancy crackers. Sprinkle designer salt on top. This will balance all the sweets that come during Christmas.

i like sweet and salty - fleur de sel caramels. and i put a little extra salt on top.

I just made my regular parmesan shortbreads (as if cheddar shortbread wasn't salty enough) - recipe here:

http://www.rainydaysaver.net/2009/12/savory-parmesan-shortbread-rounds.html

Wow. I'm a a fan of the sweet stuff. I've been making cookies and brown sugar shortbread. But I might have to give this cheddar shortbread a shot, I do love cheese!

Lots of sweet thing recipes here (and maybe some salty coming...):
http://single-girl-gourmet.blogspot.com

I've made blue cheese pepper crackers that were a big hit. My fave salty snack to give is simply toasting some pecans in butter and sprinkle with salt. Addictive and delish!

I saw this recipe & wanted to try: spicy afghan chickpeas from the SF Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/11/29/FDPI1AEUPT.DTL,

Thought of pairing with rosemary-cayenne walnuts (I've made before based on this recipe http://www.chow.com/recipes/14260 using maple syrup instead of sugar cayenne pepper),

and on the sweet side candied mandarin peels.

we make soft pretzels and homemade mustard every year. i'm not a big sweets fan, either.