Crock pot Cranberry Butter

I forget how I stumbled upon this recipe (it could have been Pinterest) but it is in the crock pot today! I intended for it to be Thanksgiving place setting gifts, but I am thinking it might be the one and only thing I have canned for Christmas. We shall see how it goes. This recipe is from the blog The View From Great Island.

Crockpot Cranberry Butter

Yield: makes about 2 cups

Ingredients

• 2 12-oz bags of cranberries, rinsed
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 whole cinnamon stick
• 1 cup apple cider

Instructions

1. Put all the ingredients in a crockpot and stir to combine well. Turn on high. Let it cook for about 2 hours or until the cranberries are soft.
2. Remove the cinnamon stick and puree the mixture in a food processor. Do this in two batches. Be careful as the mixture is hot, I cover the top opening of the machine with a dish cloth. Let the machine run for a full minute to puree the cranberries very finely.
3. Force the cranberry puree through a mesh sieve or strainer. Push forcefully with the back of a spoon to get as much cranberry puree as you can. Discard the solids.
4. Pour the puree back into the crockpot. Turn the crockpot to high, and leave the lid ajar. Cook until thickened, approximately another 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
5. Put the cranberry butter into clean jars with tight fitting lids and let cool. Store in the refrigerator and consume within a month.

Note:  Be sure to remove the cinnamon stick before pureeing the cooked cranberries...I learned the hard way!

Cranberry Ginger Relish

Merry Meeting Menus: Cranberry Ginger Relish: This 2008 Martha Stewart recipe is a favorite I keep coming back to.

Ingredients

• 1 bag (12 ounces) fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar or red-wine vinegar

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, bring cranberries, sugar, ginger, and 2 tablespoons water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until most of the cranberries have popped, 10 to 15 minutes.
2.  Stir in vinegar.
3. Mash around with a potato masher to make it into a rough chutney. 
4. Continue cooking until it looks consistent.
   
5. Remove relish from heat. Let cool to room temperature, and serve.

*** you can also hot water can this in clean jars and warm lids, processing for 10 minutes ***

Cranberry Ginger Relish

This 2008 Martha Stewart recipe is a favorite I keep coming back to. I've decided that I need to finally add it to my blog, since my goal is to un-clutter my life which may include culling collections of saved magazines. I return to this year after year and quadruple it for canning and the plethora of turkey and stuffing sandwiches that inevitably follow Thanksgiving. My one wish was that Hi-Ho was still alive to know that, after all these years, I am finally a cranberry sauce lover!

Ingredients

• 1 bag (12 ounces) fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar or red-wine vinegar

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, bring cranberries, sugar, ginger, and 2 tablespoons water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until most of the cranberries have popped, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in vinegar.
2. Remove relish from heat. Let cool to room temperature, and serve.

Chicken with Cranberry Compote

Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup boiling water
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1/2 cup tart apple, chopped
1/4 cup cranberry juice
3 Tablespoons apple juice
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon allspice.

Process

1. Combine first 5 ingredients, soak for 15 minutes, drain and then cook.
2. Soak the cranberries in the boiling water for 15 minutes.
3. In skillet over medium heat, melt butter.
4. Add celery and onion to butter and saute.
5. Add apple and cranberries and stir.
6. Add juices and vinegar and cook until the liquid is reduced by half.
7. Add coriander and ground allspice. This makes the compost.
8. After chicken is cooked, serve it topped with the compote.

Cranberry Sauce

This recipe is taken more or less straight out of the Ball book for canning. I made sauce this weekend as a table setting gift for my Thanksgiving guests. I had gone into a store to get a sandwich for lunch and saw a basket of local organic cranberries and knew I had to fill a bag to bring home and work with. It was also the perfect project for our daughter to help with. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients

9 cups fresh cranberries

3 cups water

4 cups sugar

Process

• Wash cranberries and drain.
  
• Combine cranberries and water in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil and continue to boil until all the skins burst.
• 
• Press mixture through a food mill.
• 
• 
• Return pulp and juice to a pot. Add the sugar. Boil to the gelling point (when it falls off the spoon in a sheet and not drops)
• Boil hot sauce into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space, affix lids, and jar by bringing to a rolling boil and keeping there for 15 minutes.