This is actually one of my favorite (and easiest) Thanksgiving dishes from my artillery of recipes for Stuff-Your-Face Thursday. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and then serve at room temp. You don’t even have to measure much, so a saucepan is the only dirty dish casualty…oh, and the spoon you stir with. But that’s not too bad!
Start with a standard, 12 oz, bag of cranberries. Pour into a medium saucepan, pick through and rinse well. I eyeball them and pick out wrinkled or mushy ones. I consider it a good bag if I only lose 3-5 berries.
Add water, honey or agave (if you choose agave, there is no conversion necessary: honey amount = agave amount), brown sugar, spices and orange juice.
Stir to incorporate, and bring to a boil. Be careful not to let your pot boil over – this will be a hot, sticky mess!
Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-20 minutes, until cranberries burst, or to desired thickness. I prefer this to be almost like a jam. Some peeps like it a little runnier. Totally up to you!
Remove from heat, or transfer to a bowl and let it cool. Remove cinnamon sticks and cloves and serve at room temp.
Caution! Count your cinnamon sticks and cloves to ensure you removed them all. A couple of quick stirs through the sauce should bring the cloves up and out easily.
You can make this up to 2 days in advance and chill in covered container. Bring up to room temp and serve with turkey, cream cheese, warm brie, on crostini, or in Greek yogurt for breakfast – this is super versatile!
- 12 oz bag of cranberries, picked through
- ¾ cup of water
- ¼ cup of orange juice – fresh squeezed is best, but "Simply Orange" is my go-to
- ½ cup honey or agave
- 2-4 tablespoons brown sugar, to taste
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 6 whole cloves
- Dash of nutmeg
- In a medium saucepan, rinse and pick through cranberries; drain well. Add water, juice, honey, brown sugar and spices. Using a heatproof (black, if you have it) spatula, stir to combine (warning: a wooden spoon will stain).
- Bring to a boil on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and simmer 25-35 minutes, until cranberries burst and mixture becomes "jam-like", or to desired thickness. Remove from heat, or transfer to a bowl, and cool. Remove cinnamon sticks and cloves (count to be sure you got them all!) and serve at room temp.
- If chilling, this can be made up to 2 days in advance and chilled in a covered container.
