I never thought I would ever like cranberry sauce. To me, it was that dusty can at the back of the shelf that would appear at Thanksgiving and plopped in a bowl last minute. My dad especially loved the jellied cranberry sauce. He would open the can, turn it upside down onto a serving plate and I would watch the jelly mold slowly slip out of its casing. The mold had the same grooves on it as the can did. He would then cut it into thick slices and put it all over his festive dinner. No wonder I didn’t think I would ever like cranberry sauce since this was all I knew of it. Thankfully much later in life, I would be introduced to homemade cranberry sauce. Tart berries bursting in a sweetened sauce, how heavenly in comparison to what I had known. I was invited to a potluck one year and everyone was assigned an item to bring. I bought the pies and to my horror someone had bought canned jellied cranberry sauce. After this event I always assigned myself to bring the cranberry sauce. It is super easy and quick to make (I did not tell other potluckers this). I wanted something a little more sophisticated to impress my friends and starting playing around with the classic recipe. I use to like cran-apple juice a lot and wanted to see how apples would taste in the sauce. Unfortunately at the time, I did not have any apples in my fridge but I had two firm bartlett pears that I quickly substituted. I added a touch of cinnamon since pears and cinnamon go well together and voila! Fancy pants cranberry sauce however calling it this out loud may not sound so classy. If you want a traditional cranberry sauce, just omit the pear and cinnamon.
Makes 3.5 cups
- 2 firm bartlett pears, peeled, cored and chopped
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup evaporated cane sugar
- 1 12 ounce bag fresh cranberries, picked through and rinsed (I used Ocean Spray since it is readily available in most grocery stores this time of year)
In a medium saucepan, add the chopped pears, cinnamon, water and sugar to a boil over high heat.
Stir in cranberries and return to boil.
Turn heat down to medium and allow to simmer for about 7 minutes until most of the berries have burst.
The sauce will thicken as it cools. Transfer to serving dish and bring down to room temperature. Serve.
How easy was that? No more canned sauce for this girl. What is/was the most dreaded holiday food item for you?
Leave a Reply