Perfect Simple Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce. (4 Ingredients, one pot.) - An Appetite for Joy

Whole cranberries simmer and burst in a splash of orange juice and zest. The tartness is balanced with sucanat, a natural brown sugar, although any sweetener would work well.

This is hands down my favorite cranberry sauce recipe - the beautiful simplicity keeps me coming back through fall and winter, year after year!My mom made this cranberry sauce every Thanksgiving. We ate it for days, even topping our pumpkin pie with it (I know this may sound strange, but there is no going back once you give this a try!) The tradition still stands - either my mom or I make it every year.

Cranberry sauce is definitely not reserved for Thanksgiving. I often have a bag of cranberries in the freezer and I'll make a batch to go with dinner, or to use as jam or, I confess, to eat a spoonful when I feel like something sweet. It would be lovely with this Whole Chicken in the Slow Cooker. And recently, I used it as a filling for oatmeal bars.p.s. - In my house this is a real man-pleaser. My son lit up as if I were serving chocolate cake for dinner and my husband said he could eat it all day!

Cranberry Sauce

Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

12 oz. cranberries (about 3 cups)
1 cup organic sugar (unrefined sugar works well too, such as sucanat and coconut palm)
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup orange juice (preferrably freshly squeezed)
1 t orange zest

DIRECTIONS

Put all ingredients together in a pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally.

Watch as the berries soon begin to pop. If you like a thinner sauce, allow only half of the berries to pop. For a thicker sauce (or if you are using a liquid sweetener such as honey or maple syrup) allow most of the berries to pop. Serve and enjoy!