Sugared Cranberries
Beautiful, Sweet and supremely tart, these intensely flavored sugared cranberries make the most wonderful holiday topping for so many different holiday treats. Use them to decorate cakes, garnish beverages or to snack right from the bowl. They are really delicious!
You know cranberries are very high in vitamin C and antioxidants , right? These amazing little flavor bombs are a lot to be excited about and very easy to make. There is a lot of drying time involved but you can complete each step in about 5 minutes leaving you plenty of time to multitask through the process.
I wish I could get fresh cranberries year round. I went to high school on the Oregon coast near Bandon, OR where they grow a lot of cranberries. I learned to appreciate them when they are available. Fresh cranberry sauce is awesome but this is by far my favorite way to savor them through their season.
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I also wish I could give credit to the blogger who truly inspired me to try making these but the truth is that once I made them, I couldn't figure out which person inspired me the most! This is a recipe as old as cranberry bogs have been farmed and there are many bloggers and recipe developers before me who have documented their success at this process. I've seen so many beautiful pictures of these ruby gems I guess they have all inspired me to give it a go. I hope I will inspire you to try this too!
The first step is to rinse and sort through the cranberries and throw away any that are soft or badly blemished. Then make the simple syrup by boiling together water and sugar for just a few minutes then letting it cool completely. If you add the cranberries to hot syrup, the berries will pop and you will end up with very sweet cranberry sauce.
While my hubby is snacking them out of the bowl, I've decided to make our kids some special treats for when they come home to visit at Christmas this year. Currently at our house the "kids" are all 30-ish and so far we are not grandparents. That means Jello-Shots are in order! Here's a sneak peak at what's coming soon!
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Cheers!
~Melisa
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Retro Christmas Sugar Cookies
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Sugared Cranberries
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar (divided)
1 cup water
1 package fresh cranberries (3 1/2 cups)
Method
Make the simple syrup by adding 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water to a small sauce pot. Heat to boiling for just a few minutes then cool completely.
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If you add the cranberries to hot syrup they will pop and you will end up with very sweet cranberry sauce.
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Let the cranberries soak for 30 minutes in the cooled syrup then remove them with a slotted spoon to a drying rack for about 30-60 minutes. Try to keep them in a single layer if you can. I didn't completely but it worked out fine.
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After they have dried to just tacky, roll them in the remaining sugar and allow them to dry and harden in a single layer in the sugar, about 30-60 minutes more. Drying time will depend on the temperature and humidity where you are.
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Store them in an airtight container at room temperature.