Undomestic Goddess?

It appears that I will have to relinquish my coveted domestic goddess crown and title. After more than 24 hours, the second batch of jalapeno jelly has not set. The little 8-ounce jars sitting on my counter are filled with a beautiful green mixture, which tastes amazing, yet I have once again failed to produce jelly that is edible. Perhaps if the recipients of said gift were to drink the jelly? Maybe I can pass it off as a new holiday drink and call it cactus juice!

I'm not really sure what happened. In fact, most recipes I consulted online were very close to the one I used. Perhaps substituting 1 cup of vinegar for a cup of apple juice wasn't a good idea. Some people told me that using liquid pectin was risky because the results are never predictable. Third time's the charm? I think not. I've ditched the idea of Christmas jalapeño jelly altogether.

So what's a girl to do when she has more than a dozen Christmas gifts to make? I won't be knitting or sewing anything; my one attempt at making a wrap around skirt in high school was enough to ensure I never became a fashion designer. I do possess other domestic talents I'm certain, but they elude me at the moment.

Luckily, I found a recipe for candied jalapenos, better known as cowgirl or cowboy candy. If you want a really good source of cowboy on-the-ranch fare, you have visit The Pioneer Woman  hosted by Ree Drummond. There you will find a ton of great recipes.

My first time to try sweet, spicy candied jalapeños was at the Nutcracker market with my sister. I brought a jar home and soon understood what people meant when they said it's like fine tequila. It goes down cool and smooth, but doesn't always come back out the same way. But I digress...

Back to the recipe. I'm hoping this very simple process will produce a delicious candied snack that will please even the most discriminating palate. There are several versions of the recipe, but it goes something like this:

Buy a one-gallon jar of nacho jalapenos
Drain the juice from the peppers (some recipes say drain all the juice, others say 1/2) I am trying it both ways
Add 5 pounds of white sugar to the jar; seal the lid
Turn the jar over every day for seven days until the sugar dissolves and candies the jalapenos

We'll see...                                                   Day 2 of the process