Cranberry-Apple Sauce

Gail and I  also looking into incorporating jam or jelly into our wedding somehow, and I am currently looking for recipes with a certain color, in conjunction with thanksgiving on the horizon, means now is the perfect time to stock up on cranberries and try some new recipes. I've been on the hunt for a good Cranberry Sauce recipe and came across Marisa from Food in Jars awesome recipe for Apple-Cranberry Jam. The only alteration to the recipe was just a little bit of extra cranberries, not much at all though. 

I let it cook down to the consistency of a cranberry sauce instead of a jam and promptly processed it.

Cran-Apple Sauce

The result was a great tasting beautifully burgundy cranberry apple sauce that isn't overly tart or overly sweet. A perfect test batch with enough jars to share with friends and family before thanksgiving!

Cranberry Beans & Cranberry Bread.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the wonderful gift of seed I received from Daphne's Dandelions last friday:

A packet of Ottawa Cranberry Pole Beans for the forthcoming garden!! They look delicious & can't wait for them to be in the ground! Once grown & harvested I will surely be passing on a few packets of dried beans of my own to spread into the gardening world.

As noted in my previous post I was quite disappointed due to the lack of black cranberries in my produce delivery. I had grand plans for cranberry walnut bread, chutney and a tart wonderful snack. Not to be deterred I was off to the neighborhood natural food store for a large container of dried local cranberries. They are a good substitution for what I was expecting.

In celebration of cranberries I made a delicious & incredibly simple cranberry walnut bread:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup butter

1 egg

3/4 cup orange juice

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat egg, orange juice and peel; stir into dry ingredients just until blended. Add the cranberries and walnuts.
2. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 8-in. x 4-in. x 2-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

The recipe is easy and worked well enough, though I would reduce the heat 10-15 degrees and bake a tad longer next time. After years of cooking adventure I am slowly dipping my toe into the world of baking (primarily with bread making), and thus far I've enjoyed it.