Cranberry Sauce without the Calories
Cranberry Sauce can be mostly sugar - but NOT this one. Mary Jones of radio fame had me doing this one on the air, - in 2014 - Thank you Mary!
Essentially, all that is involved is buying, cleaning and sorting the berries - boiling them till it is sauce - Sweeten to taste, with ZERO CALORIE Sweetener - cool and serve. DONE ! All the fun, not much work or guilt!
DETAILS:
Bring home Fresh cranberry from the market. One small bag and one batch for your first try at it. You can always make more - it is 15 minutes, start to finish. Check that the berries are firm and healthy - no fun at all, if you get them home and they are not good.
Bring water to boil in a GLASS or stainless steel pan* ; a bit more than the volume of the berries. *A metal pan may corrode and ruin the sauce - trash ruined berries and start over .
SORT the berries into a bowl, then add them and one sprinkle of salt to the boiled water. A few bad berries can ruin the sauce. Test for firmness and good looks before adding to the water. Mush ones are bad. Firm/hard ones are good, unless you spy some other faux.
COOK : Stirring constantly with a gentle spoon to prevent sticking; the boiling water will stop, when you add the berries , then resume. Once the boil resumes, lower the heat to medium-high and add any good zero-calorie sweetener to taste. NOT too much - you can Add more later if the result is not sweet enough but much more work to fix it if it is too sweet.
DANGER of hot splashing - keep children and YOU safe in this.
SKIM AND HAVE FUN - the berries pop like popcorn - can be enjoyed from a safe distance ! Sometimes a froth will form - leave it and stir it in, or skim it off and discard it - your choice.
REDUCE - keep stirring till all the berries are popped and the sauce has boiled down/ reduced to a nice thick business that LOOKS like proper whole berry cranberry sauce. It thickens a bit when cooled , so keep this in mind.
REMOVE and COOL - when the sauce IS sauce, slide it off the heat and let it cool a bit - do not cover it. Mixture is HOT - if there are children near, do not let them near the hot sauce. Serious burns result.
TEST SWEETNESS - at serving time, with sauce having cooled and rested, taste again to be sure the sweetness is right - add more if needed - if it is too sweet, some dry wine will cut that a bit.
OPTIONS - add things! flavorings if you like at this point - liqueurs, juices, extracts like almond. FRUITS , like live mandarin sections , or sliced apples, Pomegranate or raspberries or other berry....or even a little wine.
SERVE WITH - the classic Thanksgiving Turkey - or as a dessert sauce; with cakes , or puddings; with greek yoghurt or whipped cream or over ice cream.
REJOICE - the calories are negligible in this sauce, though the ice cream and whipped cream and cakes run the tally upward. if the sauce seems too thick later: Add juice or boiled water and stir. heat in microwave to a bubble for a moment, to thin it.
The cranberry sauce itself is fresh, wholesome and very tasty - One more for your "all of the fun / none of the guilt" cookbook.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
