Real Cranberry Sauce
This cranberry sauce takes less than 10 minutes to make and, in my opinion, you should always have cranberries in the freezer. Who needs the can?! This is so much better.
Not a holiday? You can make it anyway. It's great stirred into plain yogurt, used like a jam with nut butter, on a cheese plate or charcuterie board or as a chutney with anything you happen to be eating. Sweet, tart and beautifully coloured.
- 118 milliliters water (1/2c)
- 118 milliliters white sugar (1/2c)
- 170 grams frozen or fresh cranberry (6oz, no need to thaw if frozen)
- 60 milliliters white sugar (1/4c)
- 60 milliliters brown sugar (1/4c)
- juice of 1 orange (topped up with water to 118ml or 1/2c)
- 170 grams frozen cranberries (6oz)
- 1 cinnamon stick (or a few slices of ginger, or cardamom pods, etc - all optional)
- 1 pinch salt (kosher or sea salt)
- 1/2 teaspoon Grand Marnier
In a small pot, mix the sugar(s) and the liquid (water or water and orange juice) and optional spices over medium to high heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cranberries and continue using fairly high heat to get the cranberries to burst open.
Once the berries start bursting, keep a close on on the sauce and stir frequently so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. You can also use your spoon or spatula to smoosh some of the mostly-burst cranberries against the side of the pan to help them along.
When the berries look like they have all burst and the liquid is more like a syrup that coats the spoon or the sides of the pan, your cranberry sauce is ready to come off the heat. It will thicken more as it cools.
If you're doing the video version, add the salt and Grand Mariner.
Remove any of the optional spices before the cranberry sauce cools. If you want your cranberry sauce to be smooth and without any berry-bits in it, you can blitz it with a stick blender and push it through a sieve. We like the berry bits and leave them in!
Cranberry sauce keeps really well in the fridge - easily for a month, possibly longer, and freezes well too.
