Bread and Butter Pickles

I love bread and butter pickles.  My husband isn't a big fan, but I am addicted to them.  So last night while I was in the pickling mood, I decided to try my hand at these wonderful sandwich toppers.  Came out really well.  The recipe that follows is for six jars (half pint) of pickles.

Bread and Butter Pickles

2 pickling cucumbers
3 cups apple cider vinegar
3 teaspoons powdered mustard or turmeric
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup salt
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon celery seed

1.  in a large sauce pan, combine cider vinegar, powdered mustard or turmeric, sugar, salt, mustard seeds and celery seed.  Bring to a boil.

2.  cut up pickling cucumbers into thin slices.  Place them into cleaned pint sized canning jars.

3.  carefully pour hot vinegar over pickles leaving 1/4 of an inch from the top.  I go by the line where the lid screws on.

4.  carefully screw on the tops of the jars and set aside.

 I found that I didn't need a hot water bath to seal my jars.  As they cooled, they sealed themselves.  Also I found that the thinner pickles got cooked faster in the hot vinegar, but some of the thicker sliced ones, I cut them up by hand, took a little longer.  But I personally like a crunchy pickle on my sandwiches, so this was fine. However, if you find that your jars aren't sealing themselves, you can certainly put them in a hot water bath.

To do this, and you really don't need a lot of special equipment for this, just grab your biggest pasta pan and place the jars into the bottom.  Carefully fill the pan with water to just above the jars.  Bring water to a boil and boil for 15 minutes.  Turn off the heat.  Using tongs, very carefully remove the jars from hot water bath and place on a clean towel.  Allow to cool completely.  You may be able to hear the jars popping as they seal.  If you don't hear anything, go back in a half hour to an hour and push down on the top.  They shouldn't spring back if they sealed correctly.  If they did not, you may need to use a new lid and try again.  But before you do that, let them cool for another half hour and try again.

Now place all the jars in a cool dark place, like a pantry and forget about them!  Seriously, forget you have them.  When you go into your pantry in the middle of the winter looking for something to put on your sandwich you will be surprised to see your own homemade pickles waiting to be eaten.  I found these aren't as sweet as the ones from the store, but for me, that is perfect.  If you want sweeter, just adjust the amount of sugar to your taste.  Now enjoy your pickles!