Playing in the Kitchen: Cranberry Sauce

Forget the can.  If you have enough kitchen prowess to make Top Ramen or a Box of Kraft Mac & Cheese, you can make your Cranberry Sauce from scratch.  Seriously.  It’s so easy.  And adding the words “from scratch” makes anything you serve 1000x more impressive.

This time of year, you can find bags of fresh cranberries in the produce department of your regular grocery store (no need for a special trip to some fancy market).  This bag at Wal-Mart cost $1.99.  Cans of Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce cost $1.10.

Buy an extra bag or 2, pop them in the freezer, and you can have fresh cranberry sauce year round!

Here is the recipe, straight from Ocean Spray, for your basic cranberry sauce:

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Classic Cranberry Sauce

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Total Time

15 mins

 

Easy and delicious!

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings: 8

Author: Cindy Campbell

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 12 ounce Ocean Spray® Fresh or Frozen Cranberries

Instructions

1. Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan.
2. Bring to boil.
3. Add cranberries.
4. Return to boil.
5. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Cover and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until serving time.

Recipe Notes

Makes 2 1/4 cups

That is it.  The cranberries pop open and their juice is what helps make it “saucy” instead of “soupy.”
And when you can make it yourself, you can adjust the sweetness level to your preference (or use a sugar substitute to cut calories**gasp**)
You can even make it on WEDNESDAY so it is one less thing to stress out about on Thanksgiving.

Last year, I took my homemade cranberry sauce a step further and made Barefoot Contessa “Cranberry Fruit Conserve”… the same basic process with some extra stuff stirred in at the end.  But doesn’t it sound so much more sophisticated?  Make some to impress you relatives this holiday season.

Print

Cranberry Fruit Conserve

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

35 mins

 

2002, Barefoot Contessa Parties!

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings: 8

Author: Ina Garten

Ingredients

• 1 12- ounce bag of fresh cranberries cleaned
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 Granny Smith apple peeled, cored, and chopped
• 1 orange grated zest and juice
• 1 1 lemon grated zest and juice
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Instructions

1. Cook the cranberries, sugar, and 1 cup of water in a saucepan over low heat for about 5 minutes, or until the skins pop open.
2. Add the apple, zests, and juices and cook for 15 more minutes.
3. Remove from the heat and add the raisins and nuts.
4. Let cool, and serve chilled.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!