Cranberry Orange Sauce

Thanksgiving is just around the corner (like next week) and cranberry sauce, as much as you may love it or hate it, has become a Thanksgiving staple. I honestly don’t think I’ve been to one Thanksgiving dinner that didn’t have some sort of cranberry sauce on the table.

I personally love a good cranberry sauce, but my tastes have evolved quite a bit since I was a kid. I remember devouring the canned stuff as a child each Thanksgiving. Canned cranberry sauce couldn’t be any easier. All you had to do was open a can, dump out a big glop of gelled cranberry sauce into a serving dish, and call it a day. Easy right?  Well, yes it was easy, but not so tasty, so move over canned sauce and say hello to the fresh stuff.

This cranberry sauce is so simple to make, can even be made days ahead of time, and tastes 100 times better than the canned stuff. This sauce also makes a great hostess gift. I love to put the cranberry sauce into little glass jars, tie them with a cute bow and give them away throughout the holiday season.

Cranberry orange sauce:

makes approximately 3 cups

• 1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries, rinsed
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed or ground cloves
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 orange, peeled and cut into small chunks

Combine all of the ingredients into a medium saucepan.

Bring sauce to a boil; reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally until most of the cranberry skins pop, and the sauce has thickened slightly.

Take off the heat and let cool completely before serving.

Keep sauce stored in the refrigerator.

I wish it was more complicated, but it’s not. Serve this up to your guests at Thanksgiving and they will be very thankful.

Remember, this sauce makes great hostess gifts.  Just put the cranberry sauce into little glass jars, tie them with a cute bow, and give them away throughout the holiday season.