Sugared Cranberries

The past two weeks were heaven. I’m pretty sure heaven includes slobbery kisses from cutie nephews, way too much sugar, family time, the smells of a real Christmas tree, lots of reading, antiquing, and always always coffee.

Heaven probably has tons of sparkly things, don’t you think?

Angels, halos, sparkly wings and all that?

I think so. If you think a house dolled up for the holidays is pretty, I bet Heaven is 100 times better.

We’ve been doing homemade Christmas gifts the past couple of years now, and these sugared cranberries are some of my favorites. Everything else in our baskets are chocolate or straight sugar: toffee, bark, chocolate dipped pretzels, brittle. It’s nice to have one thing that’s tart instead of sweet. Fruit instead of candy.

Instead of leaving these alone, I tried a new twist on these little jewels this year and added some fresh ginger to the simple syrup. Ginger and cranberries are meant to be together.

Sweet, tart, a little spicy and gorgeous once they’re all glittery from the sugar.

The holidays may be over, but cranberries are still here – sparkle it up!

 

Sugared Cranberries

Makes: 2 cups cranberries

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups water
  • 1″ piece of fresh ginger, peeled
  • 2 cups fresh cranberries
  • 2 cups sugar

Directions:

  1. Place cranberries in a large bowl and set aside.
  2. In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups of sugar, water, and ginger to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove the pan from heat and set aside to cool for 2-3 minutes.
  3. Pour the sugar syrup over the cranberries, stir, and let the cranberries sit for 4-6 hours or overnight, stirring occasionally.
  4. Put 2 cups of sugar into a bowl.
  5. Drain the cranberries from the simple syrup and add cranberries, in batches, to the sugar. Toss the cranberries with the sugar, shaking them in your hand to remove the extra sugar and coat them all the way around.
  6. Put the sugared cranberries on a parchment lined baking sheet and let them dry for 2-3 hours.

20 comments

  1. Oh I love these! Cranberries are one of my absolute favourites and I love the idea of eating them like candy. Perfect!

  2. I hadnt heard of these until a few weeks ago. Theyre so pretty, especially in drinks. Love the ginger addition

  3. Seeeeriously, looks so good!

  4. My mom made several batches of sugared cranberries over the holidays. She threw in some brown sugar, which was really good. I will definitely have to try them with ginger syrup too!

  5. Well, these may just be too pretty to eat!!! ;)

  6. I love sugared cranberries! Drooling over the thought of the ginger!

  7. These look delightful! they would look so cute on a cake! Hope you had a nice holiday and 2012 is a great year for you!!!

  8. Sweet and tart- sounds like homemade [and healthified?] Sour Patch Kids! We had a bag of left over cranberries that we just pitched [we had it since Thanksgiving] that I wish I had used to make these!

  9. these are so PRETTY!!!!! Hope you had a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! xoxo Here’s to a FABULOUS 2012 ;)

  10. We make these every year for garnishes and they are always just as big of a hit as the dish they adorn! So Pretty… and *SPARKLY*.

  11. love the ginger addition!! fantastic :) happy new year brandi!!

  12. Oh WOW! These look really yummy. Do you think you could bake with them this way? Ie… embed them right in muffins as is?

  13. Great idea! I just bought some cranberries b/c they were on sale but didn’t know what to do with it! know i know :)

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  18. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe. I have been making it for several years at the holidays. My family and friends say how much they love it every year. My friend made up a cocktail recipe to use the bright pink leftover syrup, with club soda, lime juice, and vodka. I featured your recipe on my new blog, Destination Belly, with a link back to your blog. Thanks again and happy new year! http://www.destinationbelly.com/home/sugared-cranberries-and-cranberry-ginger-fizz

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