Thanksgiving wouldn't be traditional without cranberry sauce, but I've never been a fan of the canned stuff. After trying many homemade versions, I finally came up with a combination that I think is just perfect! With orange, cinnamon, and almond extract, the flavor of the cranberries shine their very best. Cranberry sauce isn't just for serving with poultry either.... try it on waffles, yogurt, or ice cream. Yum!
Cranberry Orange Sauce
Makes 2 cups
12 oz. fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon grated orange rind (rind of one orange)
1 teaspoon almond extract
In a medium saucepan, add the cranberries, sugar, orange juice, water, cinnamon, and orange rind. Bring to a boil; let simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the almond extract. Cool completely, then refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve.
Step-by-step tutorial:
Gather your ingredients. You will need a bag of fresh cranberries, sugar, orange juice, an orange, cinnamon, and almond extract. You can obviously just juice your orange for the orange juice needed, but sometimes I can't get 1/2 cup out of one orange.
In a medium saucepan, add the cranberries, sugar, orange juice, water, cinnamon, and orange rind. Bring to a boil. Let simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
After 15 minutes, it will be thicker. Remove from the heat and add the almond extract. Allow to cool completely, then put in serving dish and refrigerate. You can also freeze it if you want to make it more than a week ahead.
I actually love this warm, and will reheat it when we eat it for Thanksgiving. The color of cranberries is so beautiful!
The plump cranberries break down as it cooks, so they are soft but still give it great texture.
Even if you haven't been a cranberry sauce fan in the past, you really should give this a try. It is easy to make, and so simply delicious.
Recipe Source: Shanna's recipe box
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