A Trio of Different Cranberry Sauces & Ideas for Leftover Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is always on our Thanksgiving table, sitting right next to the turkey. Even if we aren’t hosting Thanksgiving, which we aren’t this year, I always bring the cranberry sauce.  

I’ve been making my own cranberry sauce for years, but I decided to give a couple of new ones a try this season. Our traditional cranberry sauce is flavored with red wine with a citrus undertone. It will probably always be my favorite.

But today I have two new varieties of cranberry sauce to offer. Both are decidely less sweet than the traditional. The first is a mixture of fresh cranberries and dried tart cherries, flavored with crème de cassis, a popular French black current-flavored liqueur. If you’ve ever drunk a Kir or a Kir Royale, then you’re familiar with cassis. A Kir is a French cocktail made with a dash of crème de cassis and topped with dry white wine. A Kir Royale is made the same way but topped with champagne. In France Kirs are served as an aperitif before dinner. 

The cherry flavor really comes through in this cranberry sauce and offers a new and exciting taste to the traditional. It was Meakin’s favorite of the two.

The second new cranberry sauce we tried is a citrusy one flavored with dried figs and crunchy nuts. It, to me, is much more of a relish and I really enjoyed the crunch of the nuts. My mother used to make a cranberry jelly with pecans and the nuts in this one brought back fond memories for me of my childhood. I can still see the pecan tree in the back yard.

Cranberry Sauce with Cassis and Dried Cherries

Cooking Light – serves 12

1 tablespoon canola oil

½ cup finely chopped shallots

2/3 cup dried tart cherries

½ cup crème de cassis (black currant-flavored liqueur) or orange liqueur

¾ cup sugar

1 (12 ounce) package fresh cranberries

1 ½ teaspoons grated fresh lemon rind

Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add oil, swirl to coat the pan. Add shallots and sauté for 4 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally and taking care not to let brown or burn. Add cherries, crème de cassis, sugar, and cranberries and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 8 minutes or until cranberries began to pop, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon rind. Cool to room temperature.

Cranberry Fig Relish

Cooking Light – serves 12

1 cup fresh orange juice (about 4 oranges)

¾ cup chopped dried figs

½ cup dry red wine

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup packed brown sugar

1 (12 ounce) package fresh cranberries

1/3 cup chopped roasted pecans or walnuts

Combine the orange juice, figs, and red wine in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Add both sugars and the cranberries. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes or until mixture is slightly thick and berries pop, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly. Stir in pecans. Cover and chill. If you make this a few days ahead, leave out the nuts until just before serving so they remain crunchy. 

My Carolina Kitchen’s Homemade Cranberry Sauce

A citrus twist on a classic – serves 12

1 (12 ounce) package of fresh or frozen cranberries

2 cinnamon sticks

1 cup dry red wine, such as a Merlot or Syrah

¾ cup to 1 ½ cups sugar, or to taste

2 tangerines or navel oranges

Put the cranberries (no need to thaw if they’re frozen) in a sauce pan with the one of the cinnamon sticks, red wine, and sugar. Zest the tangerines and set aside half of the zest for a garnish. Add the remaining zest and the juice of both tangerines to the cranberry mixture. 

Stir the cranberry mixture and bring to a boil.  Partially cover the saucepan and simmer about 15 minutes, until the cranberries have burst. Remove from the heat, let cool, and discard the cinnamon stick. The sauce will firm up as it cools. It can be refrigerated, covered, for up to five days. Serve at room temperature.

At the last minute, using a microplane rasp style grater, grate a little cinnamon “dust” over the cranberry sauce and garnish with the remaining citrus zest. 

Ideas for left-over cranberry sauce

By the way, if you have left over cranberry sauce, it’s great on a turkey sandwich with horseradish and cream cheese. Or turn it into a sophisticated little holiday appetizer that I posted a year or so ago. Toast slices of a crusty French baguette, top with fresh arugula or watercress, then a dab of cranberry sauce and finish with a slice of good blue cheese or gorgonzola and a crank of freshly ground black pepper. A little more cranberry sauce on the top doesn’t hurt either. Voila, a cranberry & blue cheese crostini. 

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This will be shared with Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farms, Miz Helen’s Country Kitchen Full Plate Thursday, Foodie Friday at Simple Recipes, Foodtastic Friday at Not Your Ordinary Recipes, Seasonal Sunday at the Tablescaper, and On the Menu Monday at Stone Gable. 

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the U.S.