Christmas Cinnamon Pickles

Okay so a start to the new year, a new recipe. This is a personal favorite sneaky recipe of mine from the holidays.
This recipe is enough for 1 jar because I like to do thing in small batches :)

Cinnamon Christmas Pickles

INGREDIENTS:

1-1/2 ounces large cucumbers

1/2 teaspoon pickling lime (calcium hydroxide)

1/8 teaspoon red food coloring

1/8 teaspoon powdered alum

1/2 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

1 tablespoon and 1-1/4 teaspoons white sugar

1-1/4 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

1-1/4 teaspoons water

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon red hot candies

1/8 cinnamon stick

RECIPE:

Peel cucumbers. Cut the cucumber into 1/4 inch circles and remove seeds (this is totally optional, feel free to cut up however you want) and place into a glass or ceramic crock. Dissolve the pickling lime in about 1 cup of room temperature water, pour over the cucumbers, then add additional water until the cucumbers are covered by 1/2 inch. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours.

         Peeled and deseeded                                                                         Not peeled/deseeded

(look you can pass these off as apples)                                                           (clearly a pickle)

Drain the cucumbers and rinse well with cold water. Place into a large stockpot, and cover with cold water. Allow to stand for 3 hours, then drain and rinse again.

Return the cucumbers to the pot, add the food coloring, alum, 1/2 tsp vinegar, and enough water to cover by 1/2 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to a simmer, and cook 2 hours. Once the cucumbers have cooked for 2 hours, drain and allow to cool a bit before placing into the glass or ceramic jar.

Stir together sugar, 1 1/4 tsp cups vinegar, 1 1/4 tsp water, cinnamon red hot candies, and cinnamon sticks in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar and candies dissolve. Pour this mixture over the warm cucumbers, cover, and let stand overnight.

Pack pickles into pint jar, and process in a hot water bath for 15 to 20 minutes. Refrigerate jars if it does not seal.

(you can see that this batch I didn't remove the seeds/peel. They don't bother me and I was eating them, so knew they were pickles. If you are tricking other people to think it's cinnamon apples you should peel and deseed)