Cranberry Sauce

It's interesting that this year Cindy, Barbara and I all made cranberry sauce rather than buying the cans. Somehow there is a feeling of accomplishment or beating the system to make it from scratch.   Just like pecan pie, it's something to make the night before or early in the day so there is time to get cold.

I prefer the whole berry kind of sauce, and I like to taste the cranberries, rather than tasting apples, or oranges or anything else.  Given that, I can't remember why I added blueberries this year.  Make the sauce so it didn't get as firm as it did when I only used cranberries.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup (200 g) sugar
• 1 cup (250 mL) water
• 4 cups (1 12-oz package) fresh or frozen cranberries
• Optional Pecans, orange zest, raisins, currants, blueberries, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice.

METHOD

1. Wash and pick over cranberries. In a saucepan bring to a boil water and sugar, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add cranberries, return to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes or until cranberries burst.
2. At this point you can add all number of optional ingredients. We typically mix in a half a cup of roughly chopped pecans with or without a few strips of orange zest. You can add a cup of raisins or currants. You can add up to a pint of fresh or frozen blueberries for added sweetness. Spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg or allspice can be added too.
3. Remove from heat. Cool completely at room temperature and then chill in refrigerator. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.

Cranberry sauce base makes 2 1/4 cups.

From: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/cranberry_sauce/ (but I think it's what is on the back of a bag of cranberries too)

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Cindy made this recipe, it has less sugar but adds pear to add the sweetness:

Pear-Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients

• 12 ounce(s) fresh cranberries 
• 1 cup(s) water 
• 1/3 cup(s) sugar 
• 2 ripe pears
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) ground cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon(s) vanilla 

Preparation

1. In a medium saucepan, combine cranberries, water, sugar and pears. Cook over medium heat until mixture is boiling, then reduce heat to medium low and continue cooking until berries pop, about 10 minutes. 
2. Remove from heat; stir in cinnamon and vanilla. Refrigerate, covered, until serving time. 

From: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/pear-cranberry-sauce-188731/

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This recipe sounds interesting so I'm pasting it here to remember.

Lani’s Cranberry Sauce with Dates and OJ Recipe 

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
• juice from one orange
• a dozen pitted dates (doesn’t matter what From:, I used a mix of medjool and deglet noor)
• 1/4 + cup water

Preparation

1. soak the dates overnight in the orange juice (you can probably skip this step if in a hurry – if so, maybe cook them a little to soften!)
2. blend the dates with the juice and water
3. put the dates/juice/water in a pot with the cranberries, bring up the heat quickly to get it hot and then and cook over medium/low heat for 15 minutes.
4. There you have it! You may need more or less water, depending on how juicy the orange, dates, and cranberries.

From: http://www.lanimuelrath.com/recipes/sugar-free-cranberry-sauce-with-dates-and-orange-juice/