My Favorite Simple Orange Cranberry Sauce

It is so easy to just make your own cranberry sauce. It is MUCH tastier than the canned stuff…which the only place I may use that is if making some type of sweet meatball appetizer. But if you like the canned then by all means use it…but this recipe comes together quickly! Also, if you have left overs you can spread it over some corn bread or toast.

This recipe is basically the recipe you find on the back of a fresh cranberry bag, but I’ve used some substitutions…for the water I add juice and also add a cinnamon stick or ground cinnamon for some warm flavor.

I LOVE my cranberry sauce chunky, so I just leave it as is once it is done. If you like a creamy texture with no chunks, then put it through a food mill, while warm, before adding to glass container.

You will need:

• 1 cup orange juice*
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick or 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
• 1 bag fresh or frozen cranberries, well rinsed (12 oz package)
• 1 orange, zested

Steps:

1. Add orange juice, sugar and cinnamon stick to pot and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally*. Let boil for a few minutes then add cranberries and orange zest. Once it is back to a boil, allow the mixture to boil for about 7 minutes. Don’t be alarmed when the cranberries start popping, just stand back 🙂 .
2. Let sauce cool for 10 minutes in pot then transfer to a glass jar or container, cover and cool completely then put in refrigerator.

*Notes:

1. If you only want to use the juice from the 1 orange that you zested, instead of cutting into another one to make the one cup of liquid, then you can substitute the rest of what you need to make a cup with water.

2. You can throw all of the ingredients into the pot together, to make it even more simple, just make sure you stir it well before turning on heat then bring it to a boil and boil for 7-10 minutes.

Kali Orexi!