How much do I love cranberries? So much that I stock up in the fall to last all year! Cranberries shouldn’t be only for the Thanksgiving table. Cranberries freeze very well and are jam packed with Vitamin C, an essential immune boosting vitamin and anti-oxidant. Add cranberries to breads, muffins, smoothies, oatmeal, etc. Cranberries are super foods but are often hidden in sugar. Try to reduce your sugar in take, and over time things with a lot of sugar will taste too sweet to you. It’s a habit thing. Break your addiction by gradually reducing sugar in recipes. We promise, it’ll work in time.
The typical recipe uses 12 oz of cranberries to 1 cup of sugar and some call for even more. We changed up your standard recipe by reducing the sugar by almost half, plus a few other changes to make a table standout. Freeze any left overs of this, or double the batch to have on hand. This freezes very well, and thaws quickly.
We picked the cherries in this recipe this summer and dried them. It’s great to remember back to warm days when we picked these cherries! 
Next season, pick extras or buy them in bulk already pitted. It will make your life easy! Cherries are great to dry at home, because store bought varieties are often coated in sugar. 
Makes 3 cups (can easily be doubled)
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 cup apple cider (could use orange juice instead for bigger orange flavor)
- 1 cup dried tart cherries, unsweetened (I used tart unsweetened cherries, organic preferred) or dried cranberries, juice sweetened
- 4 cups of cranberries (1-12oz bag plus 1 cup)
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 2/3 cup honey *****if not using tart cherries, reduce this to 1/3, and taste for sweetness before adding more (I use buckwheat honey, it’s my favorite!)
- 1 tbsp orange zest
Additional ideas for sauce: add in a little freshly grated ginger, or swap out dried cherries for crushed pineapple (decrease amount to 1/2 cup)
Instructions:
- Combine water, juice, dried cherries, & cinnamon in a pot and bring to a simmer.
- Add in cranberries and honey, bring to a boil. Cook until cranberries pop and lose shape. It’s ok for some to keep their shape.
- Stir in zest. Sauce will thicken more once cooled
- Chill. Sauce can be frozen (freezes well) or made ahead up to a week ahead of time
Interested in a menu idea that uses this sauce? Try our Indian Spiced Sweet Potato Latkes.
Nutritional Benefits:
- No refined sugar and reduced sugar from typical recipe
- Dried Tart Cherries help reduce risk of arthritis, gout, and rheumatism with their anti-inflammatory benefits
- Benefits of Cranberries:Reduces periodontal disease, High in Vitamin C-22% of daily needs in 1 cup, anti-inflammatory: helps with heart disease inflammation and digestive inflammation, decreases risk of ulcers and colon cancer, protects against UTIs (urinary tract infections)
- ¾ cup water
- 1 cup apple cider (could use orange juice instead for bigger orange flavor)
- 1 cup dried tart, unsweetened cherries (I used tart unsweetened cherries, organic preferred), if unavailable, used fruit sweetened cranberries
- 4 cups of cranberries (1-12oz bag plus 1 cup)
- 1½ tsp cinnamon
- ⅔ cup honey*****if not using tart cherries, reduce this to ⅓, and taste for sweetness before adding more (I use Buckwheat honey, my favorite)
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- Additional ideas for sauce: add in a little freshly grated ginger, or swap out dried cherries for crushed pineapple (decrease amount to ½ cup)
- Combine water, juice, dried cherries, & cinnamon in a pot and bring to a simmer.
- Add in cranberries and honey, bring to a boil. Cook until cranberries pop and lose shape. It’s ok for some to keep their shape.
- Stir in zest. Sauce will thicken more once cooled
- Chill. Sauce can be frozen (freezes well) or made ahead up to a week ahead of time
I made the Indian Spiced Sweet Potato Latkes and topped them with Apple Cinnamon sauce. Absolutely delicious Jessica. Thank you once again!!
So glad you liked it! They freeze wonderfully too! Now I want to make them…;)