Description
Cranberry apple pear sauce is the perfect side dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It’s packed with saucy cranberries, apples, pears, and sweet raisins.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh cranberries (8 cups)
- 3 cooking apples, peeled and chopped (I used granny smith)
- 2 firm pears, peeled and chopped
- 2 cups golden raisins
- 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups raw or granulated sugar (adjust according to how sweet/tart you like it. And keep in mind how sweet your orange liquor is)
- zest of 2 oranges
- 1 cup fresh orange juice (about 3 oranges)
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated, if possible)
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (use 1/8 teaspoon if using table salt)
- 1/2 cup orange liquor, such as cointreau or grand mala*
Instructions
- Simmer: Add all of the ingredients (except the orange liquor): fresh cranberries, apples, pears, golden raisins, granulated sugar, orange zest, freshly squeezed orange juice (use the oranges you zested to squeeze the orange juice), cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, to a large pot. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Allow the mixture to simmer for 35 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. You will know the cranberry sauce is done when most of the cranberries have popped and the sauce has reduced and become thick (see photo in post above).
- Finish: With the heat off stir in the orange liquor. Taste and add more sugar if needed.
- Cool: allow the sauce to mostly cool before transferring to airtight containers and storing in the fridge. Allow it to chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours (or overnight). This recipe is best made up to 2 days in advance so the flavors can really develop. You can make it up to 1 or 2 weeks in advance as it keeps for a long time in the fridge. Serve cold.
Notes
*Orange Liquor : If you want to cook off the alcohol just allow the cranberry sauce to simmer for another 30 seconds after you stir in the orange liquor – don’t let it simmer too long otherwise it will cook of the liquid and alter the consistency.
Omit the orange liquor – if you want to omit the alcohol completely, simply replace it with 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice at the end.
Sugar: I know most of my recipes use coconut sugar, honey, or maple syrup for sweeteners but I knew this recipe was best left unchanged. I did use raw sugar because that’s what I had on hand, granulated sugar will work too. Besides, this is a holiday recipe, it’s okay to splurge.
Recipe credit – My Aunt has been making this recipe for our Christmases as long as I can remember. The past few years my mom has made it for our Thanksgivings too, because we love it so much. My Aunt found the recipe in a column article by Perla Meyers.
