Ginger Orange Cranberry Sauce

Tis the season for holiday dinner recipes! When I saw cranberries on sale at my local Shaw’s this week, I immediately knew I needed to make a batch of my favorite cranberry sauce/puree, flavored with spicy ginger, tangy citrus, and sweet honey. This mix can be used as a whole berry sauce at a holiday dinner (Replace the canned stuff!) or it can be pureed and used as a topper for chicken or pork, added to yogurt or smoothies, used as part of a seasonal salad dressing, or even mixed into a festive cocktail. And of course, it can be eaten on its own.

Ingredients

4 cups cranberries

juice of 4 clementines plus as much pulp as you can squeeze out

ginger – as much as you like!

honey, to taste

2 cups water

Start by rinsing the cranberries and picking out any under ripe or rotten ones. Sadly, these berries were on sale which, at my Shaw’s, means going bad. I picked out quite a few icky berries.

Once that’s done, add the cranberries, water, citrus juice, and pulp to a pot and start simmering on low. I added the clementines in just for a minute until warm, squeezed them again to get more juice, then tossed them.

Add in the ginger and honey and stir thoroughly. Let simmer until the berries have cooked down and are nice and soft. Taste frequently so that you can adjust flavorings. I added a splash of store-bought orange juice toward the end in this batch.

I plan on making smoothies with much of my cranberry sauce, so I pureed it in order to get a nice consistency. I’m hoping to also use this to top a nice roast chicken before I leave for Christmas.

The result is a bright, beautiful, and somewhat healthy puree, perfect for decorating a plate. Like my snowflake?

Are you a cranberry sauce fan? Jellied or whole? Canned or homemade?

I actually like them all, depending on my mood! And it’s just so easy to make fresh cranberry sauce, another lesson learned from my nana!