Maple-Orange Cranberry Sauce

This Thanksgiving was an ambitious one for me. I decided on making several different things, most of which I had never made before. Go big or go home, right? For example, I have never made cranberry sauce before, but I love it. I think I’ve only had the stuff in the can once and was not impressed. Like most things in the kitchen, if I think I can do it, I’m going to try it out. As I have mentioned before, this usually works out for me fairly well.

This sauce was supposed to be Maple-Tangerine Cranberry Sauce (original here), but as I couldn’t find tangerines, decided that orange was just fine. I honestly didn’t try that hard to find them. I think it worked out well just the same.

Maple-Orange Cranberry Sauce modified from Maple-Tangerine Fresh Cranberry Sauce from recipegirl.com:

Makes 12 servings

2 c. orange juice (I did half fresh squeezed/half concentrate)
3 c. fresh cranberries (one 12 oz. bag)
½ c. packed brown sugar
½ c. pure maple syrup
1 whole cinnamon stick
1 tsp. finely grated orange zest
pinch of kosher salt





In a 10” skillet, combine all of the ingredients. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and then reduce to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has thickened somewhat and looks slightly syrupy, about 30 minutes.
Remove the cinnamon stick and let the cranberry sauce cool in the pan- it will thicken a bit more as it cools. Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature.



I made this on Monday night for Thursday and it was fantastic. I’d actually recommend making this a day or two ahead of time because the flavors really deepen. The orange pops in this recipe and the maple just gives it a little something wonderful. For my first time out in cranberry sauce land, I got a winner.

[I just realized, while doing some editing, that I never posted this. Wow. So I'm being a total cheater and backdating it because I did mean to and this is really delicious.]