Festive Sugared Cranberries. Bursting w/flavor that pops in your mouth. Sweet & tart. Tangy & addictive. Perfect cheesecake garnish, snack, stocking stuffer or gift. Pretty and delicious on the cheese tray.

Hope all’s well and you’re experiencing the joys and festivities of the season. At our house we are through all the Christmas recitals, class parties and holiday baking, though I am making another big batch of these yummy sugared cranberries this afternoon.

Just finished up the last of the online Christmas shopping too, phew, but grateful so much is done! The Christmas tree is up and the house decorated. Wahoo!!!

The new furnace is also installed, as of minutes ago. Merry Christmas to me, right? Not kidding! Our furnace died last week and it’s been very chilly around here… I’m glad we’ll have heat on Christmas and I’m sure our Christmas day guests will agree!

We often enjoy seeing  A Christmas Carol live on-stage at our little historic theater in downtown Manchester. It’s such a beautiful venue for the production that is always excellent. There’s something nostalgic about an old-fashioned Christmas complete with traditional carols and swirling snow that really gets me in the Christmas spirit.

Sugared fruits and candied nuts are old-fashioned holiday treats that also remind me of Christmases past. Today I’m sharing a quick recipe for Festive Sugared Cranberries. Sugared cranberries are a delicious treat bursting with sweet and tangy flavor that actually pops in your mouth.

Fresh cranberries are steeped in hot sugary syrup, then rolled in superfine sugar. They beautifully garnish a cheese tray, drink, ice cream or cheesecake. They’re also the perfect little last minute stocking stuffer or hostess gift. Sweet and tart. Tangy and addictive.

Sugared Cranberries are all that rolled into one red sparkling jewel of a sugared cranberry. Bet you can’t eat just one.

Steep cranberries in hot simple syrup, then marinate in the refrigerator for eight hours.

Roll cranberries in granulated sugar or superfine sugar. Sugared Cranberries are a sweet treat to hoard or give, your decision! Store in a semi-airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

Tips to make Festive Sugared Cranberries:

• Don’t heat the simple syrup too high. It should be barely simmering.
• Test to see if it’s too hot by dropping a few test cranberries in. If it’s too hot, the cranberry skin will pop. You don’t want the skin to pop, you want the juice to stay sealed up in the cranberry.
• Use white granulated sugar to roll the cranberries in, or make super fine sugar by pulsing white granulated sugar in your food processor for a few seconds.
• Sugared cranberries can get soggy as the cranberry naturally “sweats”.  So store in a semi-airtight container. Like a tupperware container with the lid cracked open a bit for airflow.

Print

Festive Sugared Cranberries

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 cups washed and sorted fresh cranberries
• 3/4 cup superfine sugar

Instructions

Cranberries in Simple Syrup

• In a small sauce pot, mix sugar and water together.
• Stir over low heat on the stove top, until barely simmering.
• Remove from heat.
• Test by dropping in a cranberry or two. (If it pops, it's too hot.)
• Add remaining cranberries and stir.
• Transfer to a covered plastic container and refrigerate about eight hours.
• Drain cranberries in a colander, reserving simple syrup for another use.

Superfine Granulated Sugar

• Make superfine granulated sugar by placing sugar in blender or food processor and pulsing several times.
• Place superfine sugar on baking sheet or shallow baking pan.

Assembly

• Roll cranberries in sugar to coat.
• Let dry on a baking sheet at room temperature for about an hour.
• Store in a semi-airtight container in a cool place for up to a week.

Notes

If you store in a completely airtight container (as I made the mistake of doing once) the cranberries can "sweat", causing the sugar to become moist and slide off.

3.5.3208

You may also like: Sugared Pecans

Peppermint Bark

Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies

The post Festive Sugared Cranberries appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.

A generous slice of Sugared Cranberry Pound Cake is the perfect wintry treat with a steaming cup o’ tea. Scratch-made, buttery almond pound cake is studded with sugared cranberries for a sweet cake that’s beautifully festive and irresistible on the dessert table.

While my last name isn’t Murphy, I’m well acquainted with Murphy’s Law. More than I’d like to be unfortunately. Several years ago on a Saturday morning I hosted a Christmas Coffee here at the house for girlfriends and neighbors. (If you’re needing a simple way to connect with friends over the holidays and don’t have time to make a five course meal, a coffee works! Host a drop-in for a few hours.)

I served fresh fruit, biscotti and coffee. Then added a few extras to the menu: sugared pecans and sugared cranberries. It was a great spread!

Murphy’s Law didn’t come into play with the menu that morning, thankfully. It was something else.

Half-way through the coffee, a concerned guest pulled me aside. She wondered if the dripping wax from the lantern on the coffee table was part of the winter snow scene… GULP.

Just before jumping in the shower that morning, all in a rush, I’d lit the brand new pillar candles inside my wooden Pottery Barn lantern. In my hurry, I’d forgotten to trim the wicks. Mistake #1.

(If a stitch in time saves nine, a trimmed wick could save a hundred I’m thinkin’.)

The candles with the big flames and long wicks had melted down quickly, and there was two inches of melted wax inside and up the sides of the lantern. The bottom layers had started to harden, sealing the lantern door shut (as in wax seal!) and we couldn’t get to the candles to blow them out.

There we were, tea party MacGyvers all of us, armed with butter knives, wax paper and toothpicks. Desperately trying to pry open a molten wax-filled lantern.

Then a clever soul quietly whispered, “How many smart women does it take to blow out three candles”??? Ha ha. SO FUNNY. Maybe you had to be there.

Finally we pried the door open with minimal spillage and no burnt fingers. Success! And just one sturdy puff later, the candles were extinguished. Phew. A word to the wise…trim your candle wicks this holiday season. (The voice of experience….)

So that was my big mishap of the week. And this delicious Sugared Cranberry Pound Cake was my big success. I took my favorite pound cake recipe, swapped in almond extract for vanilla and added the sugared cranberries.

Steep fresh cranberries in a hot simple syrup for several hours, then roll in sugar.

One of the boys asked me why pound cake is called pound cake, and it’s because traditionally pound cake was made with a pound each of butter, flour, eggs and sugar.

How to Make Sugared Cranberry Pound Cake:

This cake is easy to make. Cream the butter and sugar together, then incorporate the eggs in one at a time.

Stir in the dry ingredients and gently fold in the sugared cranberries. Sprinkle with coarse, sparkling white sugar just before baking if desired. (I did.)

Scratch-made pound cakes are surprisingly easy to make and I don’t know a soul who wouldn’t love a thick slice of this one. The sweet tart cranberries are a nice contrast with the velvety smooth cake. This Sugared Cranberry Pound Cake is a pretty, festive cake and sure to be a favorite on your holiday dessert table.

Print

Sugared Cranberry Pound Cake

Ingredients

Sugared Cranberries

• 2 cups cranberries
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar

Pound Cake

• 2 cups sugared cranberries recipe above
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter at room temperature
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 large eggs at room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
• Optional: 2 tablespoons of coarse sparkling white sugar

Instructions

Sugared Cranberries

• In small saucepan, stir together 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1 1/2 cups water.
• Heat over medium heat until mixture is just simmering.
• Remove from heat.
• Drop in a test cranberry. If it pops, mixture is too hot.
• If not, add in the rest of the cranberries and marinate in the simple syrup for several hours.
• Drain and set aside simple syrup for another use.

Pound Cake

• Grease and flour a 10" tube pan. Set aside.
• Preheat oven to 325°.
• Toss drained, marinated cranberries in 1/4 cup of the flour. Set aside.
• In a small mixing bowl, stir remaining 2 3/4 cups flour with salt and baking powder. Set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
• Add in eggs one at at time, beating well after each addition.
• Add in almond extract and beat until fluffy.
• Fold dry ingredients into batter until well- blended.
• Gently stir in floured cranberries.
• Spoon batter into prepared pan.
• Optional: sprinkle with coarse, sparkling white sugar
• Bake for 60-75 minutes at 325° until cake is golden and cake tester comes out clean.
• Cool for 30 minutes, then loosen all edges of cake from tube pan with a sharp knife before turning out onto a cake platter.

Notes

I didn't roll my steeped cranberries in extra sugar for this recipe because there is plenty of sugar in the pound cake itself. If you roll your cranberries in sugar, I would omit the step of tossing the cranberries in 1/4 cup flour before folding them into the cake batter. (I also recommend using the full 3 cups of flour in this recipe.)

You may also like: Famous Brick Street Chocolate Cake

The post Sugared Cranberry Pound Cake appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.

Festive Lime Sugared Cranberries. The best combination of tart and sweet. Pops in your mouth! Pretty on the cheese tray and cheesecake. These sparkly gems are an easy new tradition that will make your holidays extra delicious!
Can’t wait to share my latest recipe inspiration today: Lime Sugared Cranberries. But first things first. Let’s chat. So Christmas is nearly here. And in case you didn’t know, I absolutely LOVE Christmas.

It’s by far my favorite holiday of the year. I love the anticipation, the getting ready. Like a little kid. (Me.) Love the jingle bells in the air. The frosty breath outside, frosted window panes.

The sheer delight on my children’s faces as I complete the millionth batch of Peppermint Bark for the season. I’ve always loved spending time making handmade treats and gifts for those I love.

There’s magic that happens while working with my hands, thinking about family and friends enjoying my little labor of love. I think it’s the contagious spirit of giving that brings joy.

So I’ve already been putting Christmas baskets together. If you follow the blog you know I love saving a peso. So these aren’t really gifts baskets per se, but re-purposed clementine crates I save all year long. This year I’m adding a new treat to the Christmas crates: Lime Sugared Cranberries.

Have you ever tasted a sugared cranberry before? I hadn’t until this year. Sugared cranberries are a festive holiday treat, easily made by marinating fresh cranberries in hot simple syrup, then rolling in superfine granulated sugar. Here’s my favorite Sugared Cranberry recipe.

I thought sugared cranberries might taste too tart, but the cranberries actually absorb the sugary simple syrup, and soften ever so slightly. They literally “pop” in your mouth: simultaneously sweet and mouth-puckeringly tart.

Think lemonade or lemon curd. It’s the sweet and tart together that’s so mouthwateringly addictive.

So here’s my new twist. Roll the cranberries in lime sugar instead of regular. Adds a little more flavor. I’ve always loved lime and cranberry flavors together, so thought the Lime Sugared Cranberries might be pretty (and tasty) for the holiday season.

Well guess what. I was right. These babies are beautiful and festive, sparkling red and green gems for the holiday table.

Lime Sugar is easily made by baking lime zest in the oven at low heat, then mixing with super fine sugar.

Lime Sugared Cranberries are perfect for snacking or adding to a gift basket. Garnishing a cheesecake, ice-cream or a holiday drink. Even dressing up a cheese board or appetizer tray. I can think of so many fun uses for these gourmet treats and I can’t wait to hear how you enjoy them too.

Print

Lime Sugared Cranberries

For gourmet gift baskets, snacking, garnishing cheesecake & holiday drinks. They "pop" in your mouth: sweet & mouth-puckeringly tart.

Course Snack & Garnish

Servings 2 cups

Author Allie Taylor

Ingredients

Cranberries

• 1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 cups washed and sorted fresh cranberries

Lime Sugar

• 1 cup super fine granulated sugar
• zest from 3 limes

Instructions

Cranberries

• In a small sauce pot, mix sugar and water together.
• Stir over low heat on the stove top 'til barely simmering.
• Remove from heat.
• Test by dropping in a cranberry or two. (If the cranberry pops open, it's still too hot.)
• Add remaining cranberries and stir.
• Transfer to a covered plastic container and refrigerate about eight hours.
• Drain cranberries in a colander, reserving the simple syrup for another use.
• Roll in lime sugar.

Lime Sugar

• Spread lime zest on baking sheet.
• Bake at 100 degrees for ten minutes.
• Make superfine granulated sugar by placing sugar in blender or food processor and pulsing once or twice.
• (Go slowly, the more you pulse the finer it becomes.)
• Mix cooled lime zest and sugar together.
• Store in an airtight container.
• The lime sugar flavor intensifies the longer it sits.
• (A couple days, or even a week, is nice before you roll the cranberries in it.)

Assembly

• Place lime sugar on baking sheet or in shallow baking pan.
• Roll cranberries in lime sugar to coat.
• Let dry on a baking sheet at room temperature for about an hour.
• Store in a semi-airtight container in a cool place for up to a week.

Notes

Don't store these in an airtight container. A little air is good. Otherwise the sugar may get wet and soggy on the outside of the cranberries. You want these lime sugared cranberries to be dry on the outside and juicy on the inside!

You may also like: Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies

The post Festive Lime Sugared Cranberries appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.