I’m a Spice Girl. No, not that kind. I love experimenting with different spices when I’m cooking anything – old recipes or new. When I was growing up, my mom always had McCormick spices on hand. Over the years they’ve come out with so many different spices to choose from – I’d say that 90% of my spice cupboard is McCormick spices. Arranged alphabetically, of course.
Every year around this time of year I go through my spice cupboard and discard any spices that are old (something I didn’t used to do until I found out it’s really a good idea since they tend to lose their flavor – who wants to flavor their food with flecks of nothing?) and replace them with fresh new bottles. That’s one of the reasons I’ve ended up with more McCormick spices than anything – when I purge and restock, I tend to find the spices I want or need under the McCormick label.
Did you know McCormick has an online Look Book where you can browse delicious looking and sounding recipes, complete with pictures? I love looking through recipes to get inspired to make something when I’m lacking that inspiration on any particular day – I’m here to tell you that looking through this virtual book can be very addicting.
One of the recipes they have in their Look Book is similar to one I do every Christmas and Easter – the Golden Clove Glazed Ham. In fact, I made it again just a couple of weeks ago for Easter. Even though I’ve posted this recipe before, I’m posting it again because it’s just that good. This time I specified which McCormick spices I used in the ingredients list:
Ingredients
1 (6-8 pound)
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bone-in country ham or spiral cut ham
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30-ish
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whole cloves
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3+ cups
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apple cider, or apple wine (or white wine)
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1-ish cup
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brown sugar
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1-ish cup
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maple syrup
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1 Tablespoon
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McCormick ground cinnamon
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½ Tablespoon
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McCormick ground nutmeg
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1 teaspoon
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McCormick ground ginger
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1 teaspoon
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McCormick ground cloves
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1 Tablespoon
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McCormick Pure Vanilla extract
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1
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peel of an orange
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Directions
- Line the crock pot with foil or one of those handy-dandy crock-pot liners (that I always forget to pick up, so I end up just lining with foil. Just be sure to do either, because it makes clean up so much easier). Layer the bottom of the lined crock-pot with brown sugar.
- Press whole cloves into the ham so they are evenly distributed. You may score the ham for easier insertion if you wish, or go the ‘easy’ route and get a spiral cut ham like I do and push the whole cloves randomly into the sliced sections.
- Place the ham in a slow cooker cut (flat) side down.
- Pack the brown sugar on top of the ham, pressing into the cloves. Pour the maple syrup over the ham – some of the brown sugar will get washed away, but what stays on is a bonus. Sometimes I’ll sprinkle more brown sugar on after I pour on the maple syrup.
- Season the apple cider with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, ground cloves and vanilla. Pour into the crock pot until you get to the fill line. Preference is that you only want about 2 inches of ham above the surface, but if your ham exceeds the top of the crock pot like mine usually does, it doesn’t always work out that way. Add the orange peel to the pot.
- Cover and set to Low. Depending on the size of the ham, and whether or not it’s fully cooked or uncooked, you’ll want to cook it anywhere from 4 to 10 hours. Usually I get a spiral cut pre-cooked ham and it’s usually ready in about 3-1/2 to 4 hours on low.
If your ham is too big to fit in your crock pot, you can cut it to fit, or when you line the crock pot with foil, make sure there’s enough extra to basically wrap over the top of the ham. When the ham is that big for my biggest crock pot, I’ll cover the top with foil, then set the crock pot lid on top just to make sure the heat is contained.
I also check the ham frequently, and if there’s any part that sticking up out of the liquid, you want to either baste it frequently to make sure that part doesn’t dry out, or if you’re all about ‘easy’ (like me), just turn the ham over every so often to make sure every surface has a chance to be covered. I’ll usually turn the ham after about 2 hours, then flip it back about a ½ hour before it’s time to eat.
The leftovers for sandwiches (or reheated with leftover sides) are just as good as it is when it’s fresh out of the crock pot. I don’t know why I only make it twice a year, I really should do it more often.
What recipes inspire you? What’s in your spice cupboard?
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Printable Version:
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I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for McCormick. I received product samples and a promotional item to thank me for participating. All opinions are mine and not influenced by outside sources. See my Disclosure Policy here.
Well Posh…I mean Stacy…The baking cupboard must have cinnamon and ginger while the cooking side has oregano, basil, garlic, and cilantro. I should really branch out more, but there are so many containers of sprinkles that I don’t have a lot of room left!
Andrea would like you to read ..S is for Something
Hi Stacy.. This glazed ham is definitely one of the best recipes you have posted here and it is perfect for celebrations in the family.. Thanks for the instructions here..
Kazsandra would like you to read ..Relaxation Techniques For Anxiety
I will have to check that out and the ham sounds yummy. I do love slow cooker meals!
Debby Pucci would like you to read ..MEET ME ON MONDAY
I will try to force my mom to do this on weekend. It looks yummy and I love ham on sandwiches. Yay! I can’t wait for her to see this. 🙂