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January 9, 2012

Cranberry sauce: the gift that keeps on giving...

Unfortunately, I grew up with cranberry sauce (from a can) & jelled cranberry (from a can) as a staple on our Thanksgiving & Christmas dinner tables. My grandma also made a relish of ground cranberries, citrus & nuts; while my mom contributed a fresh cranberry semi-jelled salad with huge cream cheesy nut-filled balls throughout.
So, is it any wonder that I totally rebelled and became quite the vocal anti-cranberry-ite throughout my teen & early adult years? Because the hubs was raised with the same cranberry jelly values, the absence of the fruit from our own holiday tables would never be an issue.
...that is, until I discovered the joy of cooking a fresh cranberry sauce on my stove a couple years ago. 
Fast forward to this Christmas, since we were serving both a ham & a turkey breast, I knew the sauce would be required. However, I changed it up a little. I had two bags of cranberries, so I made two sauces:  Honeyed Cran/Blackberry Sauce & Chipotlé Honey Cranberry Sauce. So simple, so tasty, so healthy! (& a little zippy!)
(Chipotlé to the left, with blackberries to the right...)
I know I took pictures of the process -- but cannot find them, anywhere! So alls I got for you are the recipes.

Honeyed Cran/Blackberry Sauce
1 pkg. cranberries
1 cup water
1/2 cup honey
Place in pan and cook over low heat, stirring until the honey dissolves.  Simmer until the cranberries start popping & changing color. After the berries reach your desired degree of doneness, gently stir in 1 cup frozen blackberries. The sauce will thicken as it cools to room temperature.


Chipotlé Honey Cranberry Sauce
1 pkg. cranberries
1 cup water
1/2 cup honey
Place in pan and cook over low heat, stirring until the honey dissolves.  Simmer until the cranberries start popping & changing color. After the berries reach your desired degree of doneness, stir in 1 or 2 Tbsp. chipotlé pepper purée (according to how hot you like it...)

Enjoy!
(Actually, don't enjoy it all -- 'cause tomorrow the gift will give again!)

1 comment:

  1. I am going to make some of the cranbery/blackberry sauce to make your bread recipe. Thank you again

    ReplyDelete

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