Orange – Cranberry Sauce
Growing up, I never dared to try “that” cranberry sauce sitting on the buffet table. If I remember correctly, it was more like a relish. At some point after meeting my husband, he talked me into trying the stuff out of the can that his grandmother always served. I decided it wasn’t too bad! BUT … over the last several years, we’ve been trying to eliminate canned & processed foods from our diet so we started making it from scratch. I have also become very aware of high fructose corn syrup in processed foods and I try my hardest to not {knowingly} feed HFCS to my family.
Over the years, we’ve tried a couple different recipes for cranberry sauce, but this is THE ONE that we keep coming back to. This recipe is yummy & easy enough for a 10-year old child to make completely on their own! At this time of the year, you should be able to find all the needed ingredients at one store & I love that it’s made with pure maple syrup instead of refined sugar.
Because this recipe yields about 5 cups, it may be enough for a large gathering or to share with friends to enjoy with their Thanksgiving feast. I figure most people are probably going to take about 1 or 2 tablespoons worth of sauce so a little sauce goes a long ways! This is also the perfect recipe to make several days ahead of time because it keeps very well in the fridge & leftovers aren’t a bad thing as it can be used in place of jams and syrups!
Orange-Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 14 oz Fresh Cranberries
- 2 Large Oranges washed
- 1 cup Pure Maple Syrup
- 1 Cinnamon Stick optional
Instructions
- In a medium-size pot, combine the cranberries, zest from both oranges, juice from both oranges, and maple syrup. Make sure you zest the oranges before you juice them! {If you’re using a cinnamon stick, add it to the pot.}
- Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat; stirring occasionally. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and allow the sauce to simmer for 10-20 minutes, depending on desired consistency for your cranberry sauce. A shorter simmer time will produce a thinner sauce and 20+ minutes will make it thicker like a jam.
- Allow the cranberry sauce to cool and then store in air-tight containers in the fridge. I like to serve mine warm, but it can also be served cold.