Tag Archives: cranberry

Cranberry Compote – Not Just for Thanksgiving Any More

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I always look at the holiday season as a time for traditions, especially when it comes to food. This year was a little different. We had our usual oyster stew for Christmas Eve. I baked stollen, this time for the entire family, and made cookies. Our Christmas dinner this year, however, was outside the norm.

For some reason, we bought a huge pork rib roast a while back and put it in the freezer, where it languished for months. In the heat and humidity of a Virginia summer the last thing I want to cook is a huge pork roast. But as our move to Montana looms closer, we realize it’s time to start emptying the freezer, and the pork roast was no exception. We decided to cook it for Christmas dinner rather than our usual beef roast or Christmas goose. For Christmas dinner, we served the pork with classic Michigan Cheesy Potatoes (recipe coming soon), red cabbage, and this Cranberry Compote.

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I love cranberry sauce, and I’ve experimented with many many recipes for it. A few years ago I discovered this one in Clean Eating magazine, and it has become our hands down favorite. With only two ingredients plus some water, it allows the cranberry flavor to really shine, and it’s totally natural.

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I’ve got recipes tucked away in several different locations, and once we decided on the Christmas menu it was time to collect the recipes and get cooking. The only problem was I could not find the recipe. After searching high and low, I finally located it in a file of Christmas recipes and decided to post it on Jeannine’s Cuisine so we don’t repeat the same activity again next year. I’ve discovered not only is this blog a great way to share recipes with friends and family, but it’s also a way to locate recipes I use frequently without turning the house upside down or going through a stack of cookbooks looking for them.

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Cranberry Compote

Yield 1 Cup

This sauce is delicious with anything typically served with a fruit sauce – pork, chicken, turkey (of course) or even on a sandwich.  It also makes a festive appetizer when dolloped over cream cheese and served with crackers. The water in this recipe keeps the sauce from burning until the desired consistency is reached.  You may need to cook the sauce longer to get it to the “sauciness” that you prefer or you may need to add more water. The sauce freezes well. Just thaw overnight in the refrigerator before you use it. 

2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

2/3 cup real maple syrup

1/2 cup or more water

Combine the ingredients in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and cook approximately 30 minutes until the cranberries have burst and the sauce has reached a syrupy consistency. Transfer to a storage container and chill until ready to serve.

Adapted from Clean Eating Magazine, November/December 2016

 

Gluten-Free Cranberry Orange Muffins

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When I started this blog a couple of months ago I decided to call it Jeannine’s Cuisine, because that is exactly what I wanted my posts to be about – the food I love and the way I eat.  Rather than concentrating on any of my many interests: pastry, baking, healthy food from real ingredients, the myriad of cuisines I have experienced in my travels, I wanted it to encompass all of that.  And, so far, I believe it has.

Now, it’s time for Jeannine’s Cuisine to move in a slightly different direction for a while.  I was recently tested for celiac disease, and although the test came back negative, it seems I have some sort of gluten intolerance.  I am definitely discovering through experimentation that I do much better when I don’t consume gluten.  So, the blog will still contain scrumptious recipes, but, from now on, at least for the time being, they will be primarily gluten free.

This couldn’t have happened at a worse time than right before the holidays.  I checked out some of the gluten free offerings at the local supermarket and was not thrilled.  It seems the gluten-free stuff is more processed than the other packaged food, but that’s not what Jeannine’s Cuisine is all about anyway.  Once again I discovered this was the perfect excuse to buy more cookbooks.  Do you see a pattern here?  Help!  I have a cookbook addiction.

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I decided to try muffins as my first foray into the gluten free baking world.  Muffins are pretty much the easiest of all quick breads, and suitable for breakfast or with a cup of tea in the afternoon.  The holidays are upon us and cranberry and orange seemed like a good combination.  The recipe I chose is from Crave, a gluten free bakery in the San Francisco Bay area.

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Gluten Free Cranberry Orange Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

You could use any fat in this recipe.  I just happen to have a lifetime supply of palm shortening on hand.  Regular shortening would work, as would butter if you tolerate dairy.  The original recipe also called for rice milk, which would make the recipe dairy free.

3 tablespoons tapioca flour

3/4 cup sweet rice flour

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon potato starch

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup palm shortening

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon orange extract

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup dried cranberries

zest from 1 orange

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick spray or use cupcake papers.

Whisk the tapioca flour, rice flour, potato starch, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt together. 

Place shortening and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream on high speed with a paddle for 3 minutes.  Add eggs and extracts and continue beating on high speed for an additional 2 minutes.

Alternate adding dry ingredients and milk, adding half of each at a time.  Add cranberries and orange zest and beat for another 2 minutes.

Fill muffin tins almost to the top.

Bake muffins for 10 minutes then turn pan and bake an additional 10 minutes.  Remove from oven when a tester comes out clean. 

When cool enough to handle gently remove muffins from pan and cool on a rack.

Slightly adapted from Crave Bakery Gluten Free Cookbook by Cameo Edwards