A friend of mine use to make me a jar of these for my birthday but was very coy about giving me the recipe. You doctor up a jar of sweet gherkins (can’t remember if she sliced them or left them whole). They were addictive.
I found this recipe online and it looks plausible. Although adding 1-2 TEASPOONS of red pepper flakes sounds scary.
- Prep the Pickles: Slice 1 jar (approx. 16–32 oz) of sweet gherkins into rounds.
- Add Heat & Flavor: Return slices to the jar and add 1–2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes, 2–3 fresh sliced jalapeños, or 1-2 cayenne peppers.
- Boost Sweetness (Optional): Add an extra 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar to the jar if a stronger syrup is desired.
- Marinate: Seal the jar and shake well. Refrigerate for at least 24 to 48 hours, shaking occasionally, to allow flavors to meld.
Anyone have their own recipe?
I’ve never made any from pre-pickled options. I have made home refrigerator hot and sweet pickled baby carrots, and… well, I’m abby-normal, they weren’t hot enough for me.
And lots of pickled jalapenos which, well, not hot enough for me and lots of work.
More on topic, but IMHO, both the pickling and the sweet elements tend to mute the heat. Especially the sweet part. I’d absolutely stick to the low end of that sugar range, though it depends greatly if it’s a 16 oz or 32 oz starting jar.
Especially to my heat-warped perceptions, 1 teaspoon of store store bought red chile flakes per POUND of pickles is going to be imperceptible. A teaspoon isn’t a lot over that much volume, especially with “generic” red pepper flakes which loose their potency fast. Same for one fresh jalapeno (which can range from potent to zero heat).
For a mild but noticeable heat, I’d instead want say one fresh serrano pepper, ideally when more ripe so yellow-orange-red coloration being perceptible per pound of pickles.
The problem there (and the one I think your recipe is trying to address) is that it has the gherkins sliced into discs. So any fresh chile option sliced as listed means you might end up getting a hotter-than-expected bite, which is why I advised the color distinction.
Alternately, one ripe serrano, sliced and deseeded (leave the ribs for heat) per 16 oz jar. The slicing will allow the capsicum to spread out more easily, but it’ll be much easier to avoid getting too hot a bite because you can easily identify it.
Good luck!
Thanks for your ideas. 
My tolerance for heat is probably a lot less than yours. When I make my own salsa, I blitz about 12 oz of cherry tomatoes, a clove of garlic, salt, lemon juice, and about a 1/4-inch slice of a fresh serrano, and a dash of water in my Magic Bullet. Any more of the pepper than that and it will be too hot for me to eat without pain. This salsa is sooooo good! with THIS brand of tortilla chips. (On the HEB website, a search for “tortilla chips” yields 91 different products. Sometimes it’s great to live in Texas.)
Jalapenos, to me, are not as hot as serranos, and pickled jalapenos even less. Just to be prudent, I buy mild pickled jalapenos to add to beans along with a couple of good splashes of the juice from the can/jar. That way you get the flavor without the blast of heat. When something is too hot, I find that I can’t locate the flavor of anything because my mouth and tongue hurt too much.
I plan to start with a 16 oz. jar of gherkins. For that quantity, which is more than the batch of salsa that I make, I can see adding as much as 1/4 of a serrano.
Does garlic have any role to play in my sweet-hot pickle project? Seems a shame to leave it out… 
My sister does this. She generally uses homemade sweet gherkins.
Dumps the juice. I’m sure she uses it for something.
Adds a bunch of Texas Pete’s hot sauce and 1/2 cup very hot apple cider vinegar.
As soon as it cooled a bit, lids and fridges. (They are not preserved or sealed any longer.
She won’t let you touch them for a week.
They are dang good.
One of the recipes I saw online added apple cider vinegar. Does she add extra sugar?
No. You could easily. But her sweet pickles are very sweet.
Texas Pete the hotter version is 3-4000 scovilles.
She’s from Texas she has a big problem with Louisiana Hot sauce.
I keep Texas Pete in my fridge. (He wears a little puffer jacket in there. 
Not really.)
Considering your salsa, I think you’d be fine with a one serrano to 1 lb pickle option. You’re already at 12oz to 1/4, and taking into account the mellowing of adding say 1/4 cup of sugar, I think it would more than balance out. Granted, tomatoes themselves can be reasonably sweet, but still.
And I love shopping at HEB when I’m visiting family in Dallas Metroplex, or friends in Austin. Puts my local Kroger to shame.
What do you think about light brown sugar v. white sugar?
I almost always use Turbinado (from Trader Joe’s) or something like Sugar in the Raw as my default “house” sugar, though a light brown sugar works fine. I like the hints of molasses in this sort of application. White sugar doesn’t add any flavor, which is a pro or con depending on what you want.
Thelma, I see you’ve asked this very question back in 2022.
@IvoryTowerDenizen showed a recipe that you commented sounded correct.
Maybe look back at your earlier thread.
Really? I’ll do that.
You are so right! Here is the recipe:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/75659/texas-christmas-pickles/
This one uses dill pickles and bottled hot sauce. That’s really not what I’m thinking about. The one I posted at the top of this thread is closer.
I didn’t read the recipe they posted.
I just noticed the OP sounded familiar.
Not sure it matters in this context, but I make pickled beet eggs with a recipe that suggested brown or white sugar, as if either was fine.
As someone who has now made pickled beet eggs many times, I can say for sure: NOPE to the idea that brown or white sugar both work.
Brown sugar makes the eggs an unappetizing dirty brown. White sugar only, to keep that nice red beet color.
Does this apply to pickled gherkins? I have no idea. But if you’d rather eat green pickles than brown ones, I advise caution on the brown sugar.