I use a cranberry sauce recipe for Thanksgiving that has been in my family longer than I have. Â My aunt received the recipe over 40 years ago from a colleague in New Jersey, who received it from someone who lived in her apartment building in New York City. Â I have loved this cranberry sauce for as long as I can remember. Â It makes no sense to me why I ever tried other recipes since this one is everything a cranberry sauce should be — uncomplicated, tart, slightly sweet, chunky and fresh. Â My kids eat it in a bowl with a spoon, on top of oatmeal, pancakes, or French toast, or swirled into plain yogurt. Â And of course, it’s divine on turkey or a turkey sandwich.
The original recipe shows its age a bit since it calls for 1 pound of fresh cranberries, because Ocean Spray used to make their bags in 1-pound sizes.  Now they’re 12 ounces.  The recipe also calls for frozen raspberries instead of fresh because I don’t think you could possibly get fresh raspberries in November 40 years ago.  I have made my own small changes, but it still tastes just as delicious.  I couldn’t help trying to cut back on the sugar a bit by substituting apple juice for water and reducing the quantity of sugar.  And this year I used sucanat in place of granulated sugar and no one could tell the difference.  My aunt’s recipe originally called for “chopped pecans to taste” which I have never put in simply because when I first started making the cranberry sauce, pecans were out of my budget.  So I’ve left them out all these years and I can’t say I miss them.
One thing that has never changed is that I make the cranberry sauce every year the Sunday before Thanksgiving because my aunt does, too. Â We call each other on Sunday morning. Â In fact, I just got off the phone with her. Â “Are you chopping apples?” Â “I sure am!” Â I make enough for our Thanksgiving dinner with a little for leftovers (two times the recipe.) Â But my aunt makes vats of it and then drives around town delivering jars of cranberry sauce to all of her lucky friends. Â Our conversation cracked me up this year as she informed me she found BPA-free plastic containers for her sauce and this year she went organic with all the fruit. Â I think she’s been reading my blog. Â Although when I mentioned the sucanat to her, she said “don’t push it.”
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
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- ½ cup granulated sugar, coconut sugar, maple sugar, or sucanat (you can add more if you like it sweeter)
- 1 cup unsweetened apple juice
- 1 pound fresh cranberries, washed and picked through for bruised ones
- 1 10-ounce bag of unsweetened frozen raspberries or 10 ounces fresh raspberries
- 2 apples* (any variety is fine), peeled and diced (same size as a cranberry)
- chopped pecans to taste (optional)
- In a large saucepan, combine the sugar or sucanat and apple juice and bring to a boil. Add cranberries, cover and boil until berries pop, about 5-8 minutes.
- Add raspberries and stir.
- Add apples and cook 1 minute.
- Add chopped nuts if desired.
- Cool to room temperature and refrigerate.
Good idea to make this the Sunday before Thanksgiving!
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