Thanksgiving morning had me pulling this recipe out and in about fifteen minutes I had a beautiful sauce cooling on my counter. This recipe is fun to make and very simple. Put it all in a pot, turn on the heat, stir, and magic happens once the berries start to softly pop, spilling their juices. The color develops into a bright rich red and then thickens all on its own. Marvelous!
Best Ever Cranberry Sauce - with credit to Mom On Timeout.
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup water
- 12 oz fresh cranberries (look through them and toss any bruised or damaged ones)
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of orange peel
- ( I used dried peel because I always have a jar in my fridge)
Combine sugar, orange juice, and water, in a medium pan over medium heat. Once the mix begins to simmer add everything else and bring it back to a simmer stirring often. Keep on the heat for 10-12 minutes, until most of the berries have popped. If you leave a few berries un-popped. it gives a more interesting texture. Remove from heat and let it cool about a half hour. Then refrigerate.
The sauce should be good for 3 or 4 days, so you can make it ahead of time. You can serve it as a relish, sitting next to nearly anything but people usually only see cranberry sauce at the holidays. This recipe works well with oatmeal, or to counterpoint a steak in summer. So get creative.
So what will you do with the leftover cranberry sauce (if you have any)?
Quick Cranberry Turnovers
Get yourself a package of frozen puff pastry sheets from the grocery store. Each package has 2 sheets and each sheet makes 4 turnovers. Simply thaw the pastry sheets and cut each sheet into 4 squares. Put about a tablespoon in the center of each. wet your fingers and run them along the edges to get them wet then fold over to make a triangle with all the goodness inside. Pinch the edge to seal it up tight and pop into a 400 degree preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until they are puffed and golden.
While they bake stir together about a cup and half of powdered sugar with enough milk drizzled in to make a glaze about the consistency of molasses.
Cool the turnovers a few minutes then drizzle the glaze over them and serve!
I'm working on other things to do with the sauce and I will keep you updated!
Ever since a long time ago, as a kid, when I had eaten several spoons of canned cranberry sauce and followed it with cold white milk, I have not been a fan of cranberry sauce. The milk curdled in my mouth and stomach and I have not been able to eat the horrible jellied canned junk since. (Do not do this. EVER!) I dutifully bought the little bitty can of the goo every year so my family doesn't go without, but usually end up throwing some out.
ReplyDeleteThis fall, for some reason, cranberries have begun to intrigue me. Cranberry cookies, cakes, and pastries have begun to look appetizing. Even the sauce recipes, with the pictures of bright red shiny rich bowls of goodness, have piqued my interest. So I started gathering what I thought might be good recipes and decided on one to try. After all, considering my 'love' for the sauce, I had nothing to lose!
The verdict is that you can eat this stuff and it's not AT ALL like the canned goods I grew up on. It has a sweet / tart perfection, with just a little acidity. The orange peel comes through subtly and the sauce hits almost cherry-like notes in its flavor (but less acidic). This sauce gets a bright happy star on my Thanksgiving plate, but I think we might eat the stuff anytime of the year.