Spicy Refrigerator Dill Pickles

 Ingredients

• 12 3 to 4 inch long pickling cucumbers
• 2 cups water
• 1 3/4 cups white vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh dill weed
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 8 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt
• 1 tablespoon pickling spice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dill seed
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
• 4 sprigs fresh dill weed

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the cucumbers, water, vinegar, chopped dill, sugar, garlic, salt, pickling spice, dill seed, and red pepper flakes. Stir, and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours, until the sugar and salt dissolve.

2. Remove the cucumbers to three 1 1/2 pint wide mouth jars, placing 4 cucumbers into each jar. Ladle in the liquid from the bowl to cover. Place a sprig of fresh dill into each jar, and seal with lids. Refrigerate for 10 days before eating. Use within 1 month.

I halved the sugar because I like more of a tart and garlicky pickle--wonderful!

I made a batch of these pickles and everyone I gave then to really like the pickles. But you need to cut back on the sugar. I made a double batch of brine and I only used 2 Tbs of sugar and I also used jarred jalapeno pepper in place of red pepper flakes. I used about 7 or 8 jalapeno slices per jar, You can do anything you want for the heat.

To sum it all up, we have eaten two jars of these pickles in only six days!! Yum! I added sliced onions, extra red pepper, used more vinegar than the recipe callled for and used pickling salt instead of regular coarse salt. I also sliced the cucumbers instead of pickling them whole so we could use them on sandwiches too. They stayed SO crispy!!