Maple Cranberry Sauce

 

By now probably most of us are looking ahead to what Christmas dinner will look and taste like.   If your meal plans will include turkey, chicken, or pork, may I suggest a delightful (and easy) maple cranberry sauce?

This year I volunteered to make the whole berry cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving.  I knew my daughter had made a version free of refined sugar in recent years, and I asked her about it.  She directed me to this one: The Best Cranberry Sauce, from Two Peas and Their Pod.  And oh my!  It really is the best.  

It's made with pure maple syrup, the juice and zest of a large orange, a bit of water and a touch of cinnamon (1/4 t.)  When my daughter made this sauce for a church dinner earlier in November, she had forgotten to add the cinnamon and I thought it was delicious without it.  So when I made it for Thanksgiving, I was doubling the recipe and I decided to add just a whisper of cinnamon -- 1/8 tsp. for the double batch.  It was plenty, and I actually prefer it without any cinnamon at all.

Screenshot from TwoPeasandTheirPod

 
This sauce is so delicious that many people say they could eat it by the spoonful, all by itself.  I definitely suggest that you make a double batch.

I should add that it's not really a favorite with the kids in my life.  They say it's not sweet enough and prefer the jellied cranberry sauce that comes from a can.  (And if that describes your kids, then be sure to buy the Woodstock jellied cranberry sauce, which to my knowledge is the only brand that doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup.)

This is fast and easy to make.  The most difficult part is grating the orange zest -- and that's not hard.  I hope your family will enjoy this recipe if you try it!

Warming winter beverages

Image by Linda Toman from Pixabay

Last night at our informal cookie swap, I served two warming winter beverages.  I know the cranberry one is on my Christmas blog, but thought I would share them both here at my kitchen table as well.

HOT SPICED CIDER

The cider is so easy.  You need:

1 gallon cider
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon whole allspice
1 teaspoon of broken cinnamon stick pieces
Coffee filter and kitchen string to make spice bag
1 orange
Additional whole cloves

Pour the cider into a large kettle and begin heating it.  

Place the whole spices in the center of the coffee filter and gather it up to form a little bag.  Tie it closed with a piece of kitchen string.  Drop the spice bag into the cider.

Wash the orange well and cut it into quarters.  Stick 2 whole cloves into each orange piece and add the orange quarters to the cider as well.  Heat for 1 hour or until nice and hot.  May be kept on Low for an hour or so, or transfer it to a slow cooker set on Low.

 MULLED CRANBERRY ORANGE JUICE

1 orange
12 whole cloves
a cinnamon stick
1 cup water
2 quarts cranberry juice cocktail -- I used the Apple & Eve brand, the kind without sugar that is 100% juice.  It includes apple and pear juices, but that's preferable to sugar.
3 Tblsp. brown sugar
(The recipe also calls for 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice, but I don't think it's necessary.  Maybe if you were using a cranberry juice cocktail that includes sugar, it might be, but not using the 100% juice.)

Use a vegetable peeler to peel off thin strips of orange peel from the orange. Set the orange aside. Put the peel in a small saucepan with the cloves, cinnamon stick and water. Bring this mixture to a simmer; cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.

In a larger saucepan combine all of the remaining ingredients. Cut the orange in half and squeeze the juice into this larger saucepan. Using a strainer, strain the liquid from the spice/peel mixture into the larger saucepan as well. Add the lemon juice and brown sugar.  Heat the mixture in the large saucepan over low heat until it is hot. May be kept simmering over very low heat and ladled out as needed.

(For the cookie swap, I tried making this in a slow cooker and it worked beautifully.  About 2 hours before serving I put the cranberry juice into a 3-quart slow cooker and set it on high.  Then I peeled the orange and simmered the peel with the water, cloves and cinnamon stick for the 20 minutes as specified.  Then I strained this mixture into the slow cooker and added the juice of the orange and the brown sugar and let it all cook on high until ready to serve.  Then I turned off the slow cooker and it stayed plenty hot enough.)
Save the cranberry juice bottle to store any leftover beverage.  It reheats well by the mug in the microwave.

This recipe came from Cook & Tell, my old favorite cooking newsletter that is no longer in publication.   I discovered this beverage recipe a dozen years ago and it became an instant favorite of mine to serve to guests at holiday time.  I still love it -- it's so much fun to make! -- and people invariably ask for the recipe whenever I serve it.

Hope you will enjoy using these lovely recipes during this festive season!

Friday five for November 23

(The above graphic is another wonderful freebie from Baptist Bible Hour.)

 Yes, somehow it's Friday again -- even though, after having yesterday off for Thanksgiving,  today feels like Monday to me!  Time for Friday five for this week!

1.  A wonderful praise and Thanksgiving service on Wednesday evening at church.  Our numbers may be small, but along with college students and visitors we were blessed with great music and meaningful testimonies.  To God be the glory!  We also enjoyed a fantastic harvest dinner together as a church last Sunday.  When you are a small church, without a pastor, and with some folks away for the holiday, it can be very tempting to just skip special occasions like this.  But we persevered and are so thankful that we did.

2.  A lovely Thanksgiving dinner with our daughter and family.  Carrie and I cleaned up the kitchen and chatted while the men and kids enjoyed a relaxing time playing games.  Afterward we all enjoyed pie -- four kinds! -- and several episodes of I Love Lucy.   I neglected to take photos so I borrowed this from Carrie's Instagram.

3.  My wonderful husband, who so willingly helped with kitchen prep as I put together the dishes I was bringing to Thanksgiving dinner.  He tried a recipe for Jellied Cranberry Sauce -- and oh, my,  did that ever turn out well.  He got rave reviews from the kids!

Photo from Chowhound

4. Breakfast out last Saturday with good friends.  We love going out to breakfast -- and if we can enjoy sweet Christian fellowship at the same time, it is even nicer!

5.  Getting out for a walk even on some chilly days this past week.  I have noticed that I have so much more energy and get so much more accomplished on days when I walk.  It's going to be challenging this winter, but we plan to go out whenever possible.

Winterberries -- photo taken on our walking route last November

And there's my Friday five for this Thanksgiving week!

Gluten free cranberry orange muffins

Photo from Pixabay

 For quite some time I've had "bake GF muffins" on my list.  I like to keep a container of them in the freezer to heat for a quick breakfast with coffee some mornings.  I don't have to eat gluten free, but I just feel better when I do.  I went entirely gluten free for about 3 years and was simply amazed to find that after several months, the hip pain I'd been experiencing went completely away.  Now I find that I can eat some gluten, but I quickly know if I'm overdoing it, because my joints ache.  I use gluten free pasta (the Ronzoni is the best and most economical, in my book) and pretty much any baked goods I prepare at home will be gluten free.  For cookies, cakes, muffins, and biscuits, I like to use Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour* because it means I can just use my old favorite recipes, substituting this cup-for-cup for regular flour.

That's what I did with these Cranberry Orange Muffins that are an old favorite I blogged about in 2007.  These muffins also have some cornmeal in them, which is a nice bonus.  I didn't have any oranges on hand, so I used a bit of pure orange extract in place of the orange rind.  I think I used about a half teaspoon, but a little more wouldn't have hurt.  I also used dried cranberries that were already julienned so that I wouldn't need to bother chopping them.  I had bought a package of these to use in cookies, but there were some left over, so this was the perfect use for those.

These came out so well using the gluten free baking flour!  I have a container of the muffins in my freezer right now, and plan to bake more for our coffee time at church this Sunday.  Hope you will enjoy these muffins, either gluten free or regular, if you try them!

 * Don't try to use this flour for yeast breads or pizza.  It won't work and you will be sadly disappointed. 

Two pies for Thanksgiving

... one new, one tried and true!

Yesterday at church we had a harvest dinner theme to our potluck.  One lady cooked a turkey and  others brought fantastic side dishes, salads, and pies.  For my pie contributions, I used one old favorite recipe and one that was brand new to me.

The old favorite was this

CRUMB TOP APPLE PIE

1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt

Unbaked 9” pie shell
6 apples, peeled, cored, sliced
Lemon juice

Crumb topping:
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Dash of salt
1/2 cup butter (may try using less; I think I've used as little as 1/3 cup before)

Begin by mixing together the brown sugar and spices in a small bowl. In the pie shell, alternate layers of apples with the spice mixture. Sprinkle each layer with lemon juice before adding another layer. When all apples and spices are in pie shell, make the topping by mixing the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and dash of salt in a medium bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until crumbs form. Top the pie with the crumb topping.

Bake the pie at 450º for 15 minutes; then reduce the heat to 350º and bake 30 minutes more. Serve warm if desired with cheddar cheese or ice cream on the side.  (For the potluck, I served it at room temperature and did not serve with either ice cream or cheese.  Every scrap of this pie was eaten!)

This excellent pie comes from Jane & Michael Stern’s wonderful cookbook, Square Meals. I have made this pie so many times that its page in my handwritten cookbook is freckled with apple juice and spices!

Now don't look at the several steps and decide this is too complicated.  It's actually very easy.  The hardest part is peeling, coring, and slicing the apples.  Once you get that solved (which I sometimes do by using one of those hand-cranked peeling/slicing/coring gadgets) it is literally as easy as pie.   My only quarrel with those gadgets is that they slice the apples a bit too thin, which can make for a mushy pie.

 🍁    🍂    🍁    🍂    🍁    🍂    🍁    🍂    🍁    🍂    🍁    🍂

The new recipe is Cape Cod Cranberry Pie, which I found in the Gooseberry Patch book Christmas Pantry.   This is made in a pie pan and slices fairly easily into wedges; still, I suppose it is not technically a pie for one makes no actual crust.  Still, it was delicious and I will definitely make this again for it was so easy.  I made this pie gluten-free simply by substituting the Bob's Red Mill 1-for-1 flour.    Here's the recipe:

CAPE COD CRANBERRY PIE

2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 - 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup all-purpose flour (regular, or gluten free)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Spray a 9-inch deep dish pie pan with non-stick baking spray.  Place cranberries in prepared pie pan.  Sprinkle with 1/2 cup sugar and the walnuts; stir to combine.  In a bowl, mix remaining 1 cup sugar, melted butter, flour, eggs, and vanilla with a whisk (I used a hand mixer).  Pour this batter over the cranberry mixture in the pie plate.  Bake at 325º for 45 minutes or until brown.

Another time, I may cut down on the sugar in the batter part of the recipe.  I think 3/4 cup would be plenty.  The recipe also called for 1/4 cup of oil, but I didn't use it.  I felt that oil was unnecessary since there is quite a bit of butter in the recipe already.  It turned out very well and I will make this again, likely at Christmas time.

If  you needed some fresh inspiration for Thanksgiving pies, I hope you have found some here today!