CRANBERRY SAUCE
Years ago when I hosted the family thanksgiving for the first time, I made cranberry sauce for the very first time. To this day my family always requests that I make this sauce to serve alongside the turkey. Like most recipes with a tart fruit as the main ingredient it had a lot of sugar. The recipe I originally used had one cup of sugar per 12 ounces of fresh cranberries therefore I’ve altered it over the years to keep it delicious but more nutritious without the huge amount of refined sugar.
Last year I used honey and coconut nectar in two different batches. I’ve found that I like the honey because it doesn’t influence the overall flavor of the cranberry sauce. Coconut nectar has a slight molassy flavor but I still found it delicious. I have a few vegans in my family and the best alternative to honey was the coconut nectar. In my cranberry sauce I upped the ante on the spices: freshly grated ginger and orange peel, a quarter teaspoon ground cloves, 2 cinnamon sticks and a splash of fresh orange juice.
If you are wondering what to do with leftover cranberry sauce, I have found that it is oh so delicious with a grilled cheese stuffed with leftover turkey meat. If you want to have a lower carb version of this, make it into a wrap, just make sure your tortilla shell is low carb.
As always friends thanks for visiting my blog. CHEERS TO A HAPPY & HEALTHY HOLIDAY SEASON!
CRANBERRY SAUCE WITHOUT REFINED SUGAR
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Water
- 12 oz Fresh Cranberries
- 1 Cinnamon Sticks
- 2 tsp grated orange peel
- 1 tsp Ginger freshly grated
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 1/8 tsp Ground Cloves
- 1/4 Cup Honey or 1/2 Cup Coconut Nector
Instructions
- Combine cranberries, water, cinnamon sticks, ground cloves, grated ginger, grated orange peel and salt in a small sauce pan.
- Bring to a boil than lower to low heat. Simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, approximately 8-10 minutes. Cover with lid askew while sauce is cooking and stir every couple minutes.
- Once sauce is thickened and done cooking, remove from heat and remove cinnamon stick. I would allow sauce to cool before transferring to a bowl especially if it is a glass bowl. This sauce will stay fresh in the refrigerator for at least one week. I made a double recipe and froze leftovers in a small glass jar and it was still delicious a few weeks later when I used it for sandwiches.
- If you decide to use coconut nectar as your sweetener it will make the sauce a darker red as seen in the picture above. The honey doesn't change the color of the cranberry sauce, it remains a bright beautiful red.