Homemade Refrigerator Pickles

I remember eating homemade pickles at my grandma's house.  I always thought that canning and making your own pickles was a lot of work and something I would probably never be able to do.  The directions for these pickles seemed pretty darn easy, so I decided to give it a try.  I used this recipe for refrigerator dill pickles.

 Here is what you will need to make homemade pickles:

small cucumbers

1-1/2 cups of white vinegar

4 Tablespoons kosher salt

pickling spices

fresh dill

3 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups hot water

I didn't follow the recipe exactly.  I used a bottle of pickling spice, instead of buying all the spices in the recipe.  It was a lot cheaper to buy one jar of pickling spice rather than three jars of individual spices.  I also added more than three cloves of garlic.

Directions:

1.  Mix the sugar and salt with the hot water.  Stir until dissolved.  (Let the liquid cool before pouring over the cucumbers.)

2.  Add the vinegar and pickling spices to the liquid.

3.  Slice the cucumbers and put the slices in jars.

4.  Add the dill and garlic cloves.

5.  Pour the liquid into the jars.

6.  Seal the jars and store in the refrigerator.

This recipe made enough for two jars of pickles.  They looked so pretty and Martha Stewart-like in their jars that I was almost ready to call it a success before I even tasted them, just because they looked so nice!  Those pickles looked so good, we only waited a day before we started tasting.  Wow were they good!  Crispy just like I them and with a lot of bite!  I can tell these pickles won't last long and I'll be making more.  They are so easy and yummy and I'd love to share them with friends too!