Festive Cranberry Sauce is a Thanksgiving Must-Have

The holidays are here and so are cranberries—the obligatory holiday side dish that often gets overlooked. However, a great cranberry sauce can multitask as a condiment for cheese plates, an accompaniment for roast poultry or as a topping on toast. This festive recipe is a delightful side dish, and does double duty as a tart topping.  The sauce gets an upgrade with apricots which add a touch of sweetness to offset the tartness of the cranberries. This plan-ahead recipe is great to keep on hand.  Share it as a gift, serve it as a condiment or spoon it atop a tart as a memorable finale to a meal.  This recipe is featured in the December2019/January 2020 Inside New Orleans magazine.

Festive Cranberry Sauce

Servings: 4 cups

1 ½ cups sugar

1 cup water

Zest of 1 large orange

12 oz. cranberries (about 4 cups)

1 large Honey Crisp apple, peel-on and diced(about 2 cups) 

6 oz. dried apricots, julienned (about 1 cup)

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a large sauce pan, add sugar, water and orange zest. Bring to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved. 

2. Add cranberries, apples, apricots and vanilla.  Return to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, until cranberries and apples are softened and liquid has thickened, about 20 minutes. 

3. Let sit, uncovered, until sauce has thickened and cooled. Cover and keep chilled up to 5 days.