bread and butter pickles

Oh, pickles. People have a love/hate relationship with them and I, for one, am in love with them. Troy and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house in MS this past year and my family from PA drove down to be with us. We planned quite the spread and I decided to make my very own pickles. It has definitely been one of my crowning culinary achievements. I found the recipe from one of my favorite food blogs, BakedBree.com. She's a genius in my eyes!

Making pickles was a lot more simple than I had thought and the result is way better than any store bought pickle. You won't want to go back, promise.

Let's get started.

Ingredients:
3 pounds Kirby or pickling cucumbers
3 large sweet onions, thinly sliced*
3/4 cup Diamond Kosher salt or pickling salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
3/4 teaspoon turmeric (it's an orange spice that's pretty easy to find)
3 tablespoons mustard seeds
3 tablespoons coriander seeds
3/4 teaspoon celery seed

*This is the original recipe but I DESPISE onions so I used some extra cukes to make up for the lack of onions.

Directions:
1. Cut up the cucumbers into sizes that you would like. Since I had no idea what I was doing, I make some big and others smaller. The result was the same. In a large bowl, combine the cucumbers, onion and salt. Mix well so that the salt is evenly distributed.
2. Cover with ice and let sit at room temperature for two hours.
3. In a large pot, bring the sugar, vinegar, and all spices to a boil. This is when the magic begins.
4. Drain the cucumber mixture and add to the vinegar mixture and bring almost a boil. Remove from the heat and let cool. Go ahead, taste one.
5. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks in the fridge.

Aren't they beautiful? Enjoy!