Homemade cranberry sauce

I have had a number of requests for this recipe.  At many family gatherings I am asked to bring these cranberries.

I adore cranberries, but I have never cared for canned cranberry sauce.  I began making my cranberry sauce about 8 years ago, and my family loves it.  My kids won’t touch the canned cranberries now, my son says I “ruined him for canned cranberries”.  Oops, my bad.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 package of cranberries
2 small or 1 large can(s) of mandarin oranges
1 1/2 to 2 cups of sugar (1 1/2 cups if you like the cranberries more tart, 2 cups if you like them sweeter)
2 TBSP of brandy (totally optional, but recommended)
4 TBSP of orange juice
2 1/2 TBSP of pumpkin pie spice if you need to make your own pumpkin pie spice see my pumpkin bread post

Rinse and check the cranberries, you don’t want any yucky ones in the sauce. Open and drain the mandarin oranges.

Add sugar, spice, brandy and orange juice. Mix gently.

Cover with foil and bake @350 deg for about 30 min.  after 30 min. remove the foil and continue to bake for 30 min. more.

  If the cranberries are frozen the baking time should be increased by about 15 min.

The sauce will thicken (some) once it is cool. I don’t like mine very saucy. 😉  I usually drain them in the strainer before placing them in the fridge. I always try to refrigerated the cranberries overnight.

I’ll post my cranberry banana bread recipe over the weekend, it’s very similar to my banana bread recipe.

• Posted in: Cooking ♦ homemaking
• Tagged: baking, Cooking, cranberry sauce, homemade