Spiced Cranberry Preserves

Image: 8 ounce ramekin filled with a red colored fruit preserve made with cranberries and spices.

Description: This homemade spiced cranberry preserves is the perfect substitute to its canned counterpart! Makes great cranberry sauce to use as accompaniment for holiday dinners and snacks!

Yield: Recipe make 4 cups of sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 12 - ounce bag fresh or frozen cranberries

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

• 1/3 cup maple syrup

• 1/4 cup orange juice

• 1/4 cup water

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons mulling spice, ground

• ½ tablespoon vanilla extract

• Pinch of kosher salt

Directions:

Add everything to a 4-cup stock pot. cook stove top on medium-high heat until it reaches a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low heat and simmer covered for 15 minutes.

Then, use a spoon to mash the softened cranberries against the sides of the pot until you’ve mashed the majority of the cranberries, releasing the flesh from the skins. As you are doing this, the sauce will begin to thicken right before your eyes….like magic.

Once all the berries are mashed, simmering for another 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and refrigerate to cool completely before serving.

Use within 5 days or store in airtight container in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Notes:

if you don't like the texture of the full cranberry skins in your final preserves, you could carefully blend the hot cooked cranberries in a blender or use an immersion blender to break down the cranberry skins.

If you don’t like the added texture of cranberry skins at all, then instead of blending, press the cooked berries through a fine sieve which will leave the skins behind, then discard the skins.

Personally, I like leaving the skins in the recipe for that added fiber and texture, so my recipe uses the spoon-mash method and does not filter the final result.