Sugared Fresh Cranberries Recipe

Lately, here and there (like on Pinterest) on the Internet, I've come across sugared cranberry recipes. Then I got a pound of Bandon, Oregon cranberries and thought this would be the perfect time to try my own concoction based on what I've been seeing around. Here's what I came up with:

Lovely, tasty sugared cranberries!

And here's how I did it:

Sugared Fresh Cranberries

12 oz - 1 lb. (16 oz.) fresh cranberries, washed
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup water

In a medium saucepan, mix together 1/2 cup of the sugar and water. On medium heat and stirring constantly, heat the syrup until the sugar has dissolved; remove from heat.

Place the cranberries into the syrup and gently mix so all surfaces of the berries have been coated with the syrup. This won't take more than about 30 seconds because you don't need to cook them; rather, you just want to coat them.

Coating cranberries with warm sugar syrup

Using a slotted spoon, remove the berries from the syrup and place them on a rack to dry for one hour. You may need to work in batches if they don't all fit into the pot you use.

Cranberries draining

As you might be able to discern in the photo above, my makeshift draining rack was pretty hokey, and the drain holes were so big that some of the cranberries fell through to the paper-towel-covered counter. As it turns out, that didn't prove to be a problem at all. (Thankful for that!)

After the cranberries have sat for an hour they should be tacky to the touch. Now, working in batches, roll the berries in the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar; place the sugared berries in a single layer back onto the rack or use a large jelly roll pan or some other low-sided baking pan. Let them sit for another hour or so before you store them. I stored mine in a large mixing bowl with an old-fashioned plasticized cloth covering. (I figured the cloth covering would allow a bit of air to circulate and my thinking for that was I didn't want the sugar to get soft, which seemed likely were I to use plastic stretchy wrap instead.

Now the only thing left to do was eat them! So I did, and they were oh, so good. :)

Sugared Cranberries close-up

I hope you give this easy recipe a try. They are rather an addicting snack when eaten plain, but I'm going to try them in a tossed green salad tonight for supper. I imagine they will be fabulous. I'll splash on oil and vinegar to dress the leaves and throw in a handful of blue cheese crumbles. Yum!

May God be with you and yours!

Georgia