Smoked Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings...er...Drummettes

Confession of a novice smoker ... of meats that is:  I, Jenn of Jenn's Food Journey, confess that I finished these drummettes in the oven!  There, I said it, it's out in the open, no secrets...whew... I feel better!  I have found out, in the last two times I smoked, that sometimes what the recommended time is in a recipe can be WAY off.  I checked a few different sites with smoking recipes, just to see what the temperature and smoking time should be....all of them said smoke at 225 for 1.5-2 hours.  I smoked these almost twice as long as all those others, and they still weren't completely cooked through.  No worries, though, I actually liked having the skin be a little crispy....it was the perfect smokey flavor from the smoker and the perfect crispy skin from the oven...they were a thing of beauty, let me tell you!

Ok, so you don't have a smoker, no worries, you can do these in your oven...you could even use your grill to smoke them really.  Get some wood chips, soak them, wrap them in foil, poke a few holes in it....put it on the grill, shut the lid....viola! a smoker is born.   If you don't want that kind of a hassle...just throw these in a 425-450 degree oven and bake until cooked through (165-170 degree internal temperature).  These are worth trying, no matter how you cook them.  Ok, if you don't smoke them you aren't going to get that smokey goodness, true, BUT, you will get the sweet and spicy part and well, that's a pretty good thing too...trust me...these are mouth watering good!!

Smoked Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings (or Drummettes)
Adapted from dadgumthatsgood.com 
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
16-20 chicken wing/drummettes
1 1/4 Tablespoons black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup Spicy Barbecue Sauce
3 Tablespoons apple juice

Additional items needed for smoking-
Texas Roadhouse wood chips (or apple wood or hickory will do), soaked in water for 30 minutes
1 cup each apple juice and water

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together the pepper, onion powder, chili powder, garlic powder, and seasoned salt.  Sprinkle over the wings and toss to coat.  Cover and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.

Add the water and apple juice to the water pan of the smoker.  Add 1 cup wood chips.  Preheat smoker to 225 degrees.  Place the wings on the top shelf of the smoker and cook for 45 minutes.  Turn wings and cook for another 45 minutes.

While wings are smoking, in a small sauce pan over medium heat, add the honey, barbecue sauce, and apple juice.  Cook until warmed through.

Remove wings from smoker and place in a disposable aluminum pan.  Pour the warm sauce over the wings and put back in the smoker on the 2nd shelf.  Allow the wings to cook another 45 minutes.  You can finish them off in a 450 degree oven for 5-10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through (165-170 degrees).  Get out the napkins and enjoy!