The Best Cranberry Sauce Ever



The only way I could capture the ruby red color of
this sauce was to hold it up to the light.
(I didn't think my family would appreciate me taking pictures
of their plates while they were trying to eat.)



The only cranberry sauce I have ever eaten came from a can. For Thanksgiving this year, I decided to change all that. I bought my first bag of cranberries, selected some sweeteners to combat all that tartness, and got busy in the kitchen.

Since my three sisters and I are all grown, we do Thanksgiving potluck-style at my mom's house. Mom makes the turkey and stuffing and we bring everything else. My sister was in charge of bringing the canned stuff, which my whole family eats. So this was just a little something to be sampled, but not served. Unfortunately, she had a cake-tastrophy and, in the height of all the madness, forgot the cans on her counter.

It's funny when you try to create a new recipe. It either turns out fantastic and you want to tell everyone you know, or it's terrible and you pretend nothing ever happened at all. Thanks to my sister, this suddenly became the only option at the table. I was so nervous. Guess what? They loved it! They all raved and said it was amazing. Foodie success! And now I share it with you...


Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Makes 8 servings

What I use:

• 1 12oz. bag cranberries, rinsed
• 1 c. maple syrup (the good stuff, not pancake syrup)
• 1 c. apple juice
• Juice of 2 clementines
• 2 Tbsp. white sugar

How I do it:

1. In a medium pot, place the cranberries, maple syrup, apple juice, clementine juice, and white sugar.

2. Stir together and heat over high until the mixture comes to a boil.

3. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. (The longer you cook it, the more the berries break down. If you want bigger berry chunks, only cook it for 10 minutes.)

4. Cool the sauce down and put it in the fridge.

It definitely tastes better the second day, so make it the day before you want to serve it. This gives the flavors time to really come together.

What is your favorite Thanksgiving side dish?