Beauty! Look at these cranberry gems! I’m turning them into cranberry sauce.
Super easy. Are you doing this too?
You’ll probably be cranking food out of your kitchen all weekend. Need a few more ideas? I’ve got everything! Everything but the turkey, stuffing, and cornbread… Yea, I know. But I have everything else!
1- Pumpkin Pie Pancakes. Super flavor for for breakfast.
2- Honey Roasted Acorn Squash. So easy and it makes me feel fancy.
3- Spiced Apple Cake. I love this creature.
4- Prosciutto Dijon Gruyere Puffs. How about an appetizer? I love the mustard in these.
5- Roasted Pumpkin and Leek Soup. That’s yummy. Fact.
Let’s finish this cranberry sauce.
There’s absolutely no reason you should by the canned stuff. It slinks out of the can and has weird ridges. It’s also waaaay too sweet.
I think you should boil cranberries with orange juice and zest… then add just a tiny touch of vanilla beans.
Cranberry sauce dream… I’m tellin ya.
Cranberry Sauce
makes about 4 cups
2 12-ounce bags fresh cranberries
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup water
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
scrapings from one quarter of a vanilla bean (optional if you don’t want to shell out the cash for a vanilla bean)
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm the water, juice granulated sugar, brown sugar and salt. Stir until sugars have dissolved. Add the two bags of cranberries and stir until cranberries begin to pop. Cook cranberries, stirring occasionally for about 10 to 12 minutes. Sauce will thicken as cranberries cook down. Once thick, remove from heat and add orange zest and vanilla bean. Stir to incorporate. Cool to room temperature then store in the fridge until ready to eat. Lasts for up to three days in the fridge. Delicious.
6- Maple Pecan Muffins. Topped with pure maple syrup and baked to perfection.
7- Dad’s Perfect Sweet Potato Pie with No-Roll Pie Crust. Yes. I’m totally obsessed with this pie.
8- Cornmeal Cranberry Honey Bread. Sweet and crunchy. Like.
9- Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread. So moist you’ll never know it’s vegan. Promise.
10- Apple Pie Granita. Like pie…. but totally not!
11- Buttermilk Pie with Warm Blackberry Sauce. Ooooh man.
12- Apple Crisp. My key to one day tricking a man into marrying me.
13- All Purpose Holiday Bundt Cake. Bring a bib.
14- Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Frosting. Cupcakes for the holidays? I say ok!
15- Pear Walnut Bundt Cake. The praline alone is reason enough to make this happen.
16- Homemade Apple Pie. It’s worth the time. It really is.
Robyn
Number 6 & 8 sound Umm…Umm…GOOD! Can’t wait to try them.
C. Michele
Awesome. Who needs turkey when you have the rest?
Lauren
ugh! Who needs turkey when you can just drool over this spread that you’ve posted, where’s my fork I’m digging in!
Beth
I used to be in charge of the handcrank we used to break down the cranberries. Homemade is definitely better.
Elizabeth
Thanks Joy! I’ve been looking for a good, simple cranberry sauce recipe. I’m also making a cranberry relish. If you ever listen to NPR around Thanksgiving, it’s impossible to miss the recipe for Mama Stamberg’s cranberry relish (which is also on the web). I tried it last year and LOVED it. It’s BRIGHT pink and definitely relishy rather than cranberry-ey. So… gotta do both to satisfy the traditionalists! But I suggest you try out the relish some time. It kills on a leftover turkey sandwich!
jen @ the baked life
#12 – totally right. I made that for my husband for the first time when we first started dating. Totally sealed the deal. Locked and loaded apple crisp is the way to go.
ps. hopefully no kitten shenanigans during turkey time.
Kati
My family loves the cranberry sauce shaped-like-a-can! Mostly because it’s funny looking. But I’m making a Cranberry Pomegranite Sauce, too.
Georgia @ The Comfort of Cooking
If I wasn’t already excited for Thanksgiving, I am SUPER excited now! All of these dishes look incredibly tasty, Joy. I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Colleen @ sweetswallows
Homemade cranberry sauce is totally the way to go. My recipe uses maple syrup and cranberry juice- no orange juice. Though zest is involved. I’m thinking I might give this one a try too. Especially since I put cranberry sauce on EVERYTHING this time of year, I can really never have enough.
Sues
Your photos look absolutely out of this world!! And I love that you’re starting the day off with pumpkin pancakes :) Obviouslyyy!
Erin O.
I love that you made it from scratch-sometimes it’s just so much easier to crank out a can opener and use the simple stuff. But it’s sooo not as tasty.
I just did a post on your pumpkin butterscotch cookies over on my blog, you should check them out!
Elle
Dear Joy, Thanks so much for the honey acorn squash recipe! I don’t like really sweet things (or chocolate) so I usually spend the dessert portion of Thanksgiving eating mashed potatoes but now I can munch away on acorn squash.
Nohemi
OH MY!!! Ive decided on 3 of these for Thanksgiving. Apple Crisp, Cornmeal Cranberry Honey Bread, and of course my first attempt at Cranberry Sauce… I can’t wait for the results. it may be because Im still a tad hungry, but i wish I could snap into the future and be enjoying all these already!
Thanks for taking the time to post this delicious everything but turkey meal (leave us to figure that one out on our own huh)
:)
Diana
Can I use vanilla extract or should i just leave it out altogether if i don’t have a vanilla bean?
Dawn
I made your Dad’s Sweet Potato Pie a couple of weeks ago for a family dinner and it was a HIT! Guess how I’ll be spending my Thanksgiving morning! Thanks Joy!