Homemade Cranberry Sauce 

Aaaand Thanksgiving has rolled around again. It was one of my favorites growing up and we always had turkey and cranberry sauce, albeit the cranberry sauce was out of a can. It was still good and we gobbled (sorry I just had to) it up. In Israel, there are no fresh cranberries but I’ve discovered an excellent brand of gorgeous frozen ones, Sahut, which are like huge jeweled rubies. I bake with them all the time and though I made sauce out of them eons ago, decided to make them and write down the recipe properly. So here we go, and don’t worry. If you don’t finish off the sauce (although it goes with chicken and beef just as well, keeps a nice while in the fridge and even freezes!!) don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. Here’s my recipe for muffins with the leftover sauce Cranberry Sauce Spice Muffins with Streusel Topping I’m not ashamed to say these are awesome muffins. In fact, I try not to make them too often since I can eat too many on my own.

K, onward. It’s really simple just requires about 20 or so minutes of your time. (passive cooking for the most part).

Gather your ingredients.

Yes, by the way, there’s a bit of salt in there. It adds to the flavor, don’t skip it it’s not a lot. Now I used a medium orange both for the juice (you need to supplement the juice, you’ll only get about 1/4-1/3 cup from the one orange and you need a cupful) and the peel. A note. I really like the tang of the cranberries and the orange peel, however, if you find it a touch bitter, just use half the orange peel and freeze the rest of the grated peel for another purpose (cake, cooking, what have you) never waste it! In addition, you must taste the sauce before you finish cooking it, just be careful, it’s hot! since you might need a touch more sugar. My batch needed an additional heaping tablespoon and it was a perfect meld of tangy and sweet.

You aren’t using the whole bag here just 3 cups worth of cranberries. It’s about 2 1/2-3 cups sauce in the end which is just right for me. You can double the recipe if you have an army of people who love cranberry sauce. (remember those muffins!!). K.

Take a medium about 2 quart/liter saucepan and put in the juice, cranberries, sugar, grated orange peel, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.

Just a word to those who cringe at the sugar. Don’t skimp on it here or you’ll have a bitter, nasty flavored result and isn’t that a shame? Good, now put the pot on a medium/low flame. Not too low or it won’t cook properly and you want it to bubble but not hysterically. Stir it well, just till the sugar is dissolved and then leave it to cook down and do it’s thing. Btw, sometimes the cranberries pop and sometimes not so much. If you don’t hear the little pops, no worries.

Now it’s burbled about 20 minutes or so and cooked down and starting to look a bit jammy. Excellent. You can leave the cranberries whole but I find I like them a bit crushed. So I take an old fashioned potato masher and mash them down a bit all over the pot like so:

As you can see, the cranberry sauce turns a deep rich color as it cooks down. That’s correct. The sauce should be tasted at this point, scoop up a little, let it cool a bit in a spoon and carefully taste to see if you need to add sugar. Add a tablespoon, cook a few minutes more, taste again. You don’t want it overly sweet so a bit at a time. Take off the fire and let cool. It will set up and be more jammy as it cools. If you refrigerate it overnight, it will have an even thicker consistency. The combo of orange, cranberry, cinnamon and nutmeg will drive you wild with its scent and taste and you might just find yourself eating some plain right out of your container!

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

3 cups (340 grams) frozen cranberries, defrosted 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1 cup (200 grams) sugar plus a tablespoon or two more if needed

1 cup (240 ml) orange juice (preferably fresh, but you can use frozen concentrate to supplement the juice of the orange)

Grated rind/peel of one orange (if you like less tart, use half the peel and freeze the rest)

In a stainless steel saucepan (use a non reactive pot for this) , place cranberries, spices, sugar, juice and grated peel. Stir well and cook on medium/low heat till sugar dissolves and then let cook down, stirring from time to time. The sauce should get thick and jammy after approximately 20-25 minutes, keep an eye on it so it doesn’t scorch. When looking thickish, take a potato masher and mash all over till cranberries are smooshed down somewhat. Taste carefully (it’s hot!) to see if a bit more sugar is needed. If so, add a tablespoon, stir it in, cook another 2 minutes and taste again. Don’t put in too much sugar or it’ll be overly sweet, so just add a bit at a time till you are happy with the tangy, tart, sweet balance.  Remove from heat, let cool. It thickens up more when cool. If you refrigerate it, it gets even thicker. You can even freeze this but I would just use the extra to make my Cranberry Sauce Spice Muffins with Streusel Topping. But that’s just me.