Thursday, November 13, 2008

Cranberry Craze

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I absolutely adore cranberries. I love the tart flavor and crimson color that they bring to whatever dish they're added to. Lots of cranberry love happening here!

So, in the spirit of Fall and all things cranberries, I set out to develop a new cranberry sauce recipe. I usually always make the one on Everyday Dish (click on the link to get the recipe), but change is good too. This new sauce has crushed pineapple in it, which lends a great texture and lightens up the cranberry flavor just a bit. I also added ground cinnamon, which goes really well with the pineapple and cranberry flavors. So, without further adieu, I present you with my newest cranberry sauce...

Julie's Spiced Cranberry Pineapple Sauce
1 1/4 cups sugar (add another tablespoon of sugar if you like it a touch sweeter and a little less tart)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
2 8-oz cans crushed pineapple (in juice), undrained
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

In a large saucepan, combine sugar, orange juice and water, stirring well. Bring mixture to a simmer, stirring as needed to dissolve sugar. Add cranberries, pineapple (and juice) and cinnamon, and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat slightly, and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 7 minutes, or until cranberries have popped and sauce has thickened up.

This makes a lot of cranberry sauce, but will keep well in the refrigerator, and can probably even be frozen. Try it on a seitan sandwich or stirred into plain soy yogurt or heck, it's even delicious mixed with shredded carrots and eaten as a salad.

So, what's your favorite way to eat cranberries?

13 comments:

Jenni (aka Vegyogini) said...

I love cranberries, too! I'm a little bit of a purist, though, because I don't care for other flavors in my cranberry sauce (no orange like many recipes call for, for example). I really should make cranberry sauce more often, but it's one of those holiday foods that are neglected at other times of year. Hmm, maybe I'll change that.

I've been loving the new episodes of Everyday Dish! I hope I can be a vegan cooking show host someday, too. :)

JohnP said...

Gah! I was already trying to decide between 2 cranberry sauce recipes for Tgiving, and now you've made it 3! I suppose that's a good problem to have.

aTxVegn said...

I love cranberries too. I think I love them because they are not terribly sweet, and of course I love them because they are absolutely beautiful. I made some great cranberry bars last year, but I could never decide on a favorite recipe....

Heather said...

I made this tonight, oh my gosh it is SOOOOOO good. I didn't have any canned pineapple but a fresh one overdue for cutting up so I threw in about 1 cup fresh and broke it up a bit as it cooked. I also added some finely chopped pecans as well. Something about cranberry sauce, I could eat the whole batch, even after my tongue goes numb from the tartness. Thank You this is so good!!!
Heather

julie hasson said...

Hi Vegyogini. Thanks! We've been having a lot of fun with the cooking show.

Hi JohnP! You crack me up! I know, too many sauces to choose, right?!

Hi aTxVegn. The cranberry bars sound great.

Hey 3veggies. I'm so glad you liked the sauce. It's addictive, isn't it? I'm so glad to know that it works well with fresh pineapple too. Yum!!

KitteeBee said...

hey julie!
your sauce sounds great. i made one today to bring to our vegan potluck. it had fresh cranberries, orange zest, orange juice, brown sugar, agave, maple syrup, cinnamon and diced jalapenos. i served it over some tofutti cream cheese with crackers. it was good, but i'm sorta a fool for my grandma's sauce which is:
1 apple, diced
1 orange, rind grated and juice reserved
1 lb. fresh cranberries
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

1. In a medium saucepan, stir together the cranberries, sugar and juice from the orange.
2. Bring the mixture to a boil until the cranberries begin to pop.
3. Add the apple and half the orange rind.
4. Continue cooking for 15 minutes on medium-low heat.
5. Remove from heat and stir in the nuts.
6. Cool to room temperature before serving, or serve chilled.

xo
kittee

katswan said...

Hey Julie,

This cranberry sauce sounds luscious! I can hardly wait to give it a try!

It sounds like you are living life and having a blast! I love all the wonderful ideas you are bringing to the table. We haven't gone Vegan yet, but many of my Thanksgiving guests have so I plan on utilizing many of your recipes, thanks for the help!

Hope you and the Fam are doing great...we miss you in LA.

Love, Peace and Aloha,
Kathie, Bruce and Evan

julie hasson said...

Kittee, your sauces sound great. It's so much fun to play around with them, isn't it?!

Hi Katswan! So good to hear from you! How are you guys? I owe you an email, badly! I hope you guys have a great Thanksgiving. XO

mysticxian said...

I confess one of my favourite cranberry sauces is the jellied kind in a can. So not good for you. But I also really love to make cranberry nut bread during the holidays with whole cranberries roughly chopped.

Nicole said...

This looks awesomely delicious. Any idea how I'd have to alter it to use agave nectar or maple syrup instead of the sugar, if that's possible?

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Ooh, this sounds lovely. I'm not a cranberry fan normally, but I do love pineapple!

julie hasson said...

Hi mysticxian, I love cranberry bread too!

Hi Nicole. Sure, not problem subbing agave. Agave is about 40% sweeter than sugar, so for each cup of sugar, you'd want to substitute about 2/3 cup agave. You might also want to reduce the water in the recipe by about 1/4 cup or so. I'd love to hear how it is with the agave.

Hey Melisser! You could always make a berry sauce instead of cranberry, with frozen boysenberries or raspberries.

Nicole said...

So I just made this for my family's Thanksgiving and it was a big hit! Everyone wanted the recipe. I changed it a bit and did 1/3 regular sugar, 1/3 agave nectar and 1/3 Splenda and cut the water in half as two people in my family have Type II Diabetes, but it was still awesome. Thanks for the recipe!