Tag: cloves

CRANBERRY SAUCE

This homemade cranberry sauce is full of warm, fragrant spices with a hint of refreshing orange zest. One bite, and you’ll vow to never buy canned cranberry sauce again! The best part is, it comes together in under 30 minutes!

 

The classic Thanksgiving table tends to look pretty similar across America: a giant roasted turkey surrounded by mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and, of course, cranberry sauce. Cranberries — along with concord grapes and blueberries — are widely known as the only commercially grown fruits native to the United States. So if you’re going to pick a fruit to represent the American harvest, this is it. 

Then the debate becomes canned cranberry sauce or fresh cranberry sauce? I will confess, for years, more than I care to admit, I bought canned cranberry sauce. I didn’t like it, so my husband was the only one that ate it. But then through a conversation that a friend and I were having, I realized how easy fresh cranberry sauce was to make, and for obvious reasons, tastes a whole lot better!! So began the process of developing my own, delicious cranberry sauce! I thought I just didn’t like cranberries since all I had tried was canned cranberry sauce – can you blame me? But once I tried fresh, homemade cranberry sauce, I was officially hooked! I now fully understand why cranberry sauce makes its way onto the table every Thanksgiving and often reappears at Christmas!

For this recipe:

This recipe really is easy! A few simple ingredients, 30 minutes of your time, and you’ll have an amazing cranberry sauce to impress everyone sitting around your table for the holidays!

All you need:

  • Orange juice
  • Sugar (white or brown)
  • Cinnamon Sticks
  • Cloves
  • Salt
  • Cranberries
  • Orange Zest

Start by bringing the orange juice, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and cloves to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved. **It is easiest to put the cloves in a spice bag or cheesecloth, so they can be easily removed. It is almost impossible to find and fish out the cloves at the end. Believe me, I’ve tried!

Once the mixture is boiling, add the cranberries and orange zest. Simmer over medium-low heat for 20 – 25 minutes, or until most of the cranberries have popped and are soft. Remove cinnamon sticks and cloves.

Let the cranberry sauce cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

That’s it! Super-easy, but so delicious!!

I love these little spice bags! They make it easy to remove the cloves:

 

Cranberry Sauce

This homemade cranberry sauce is full of warm, fragrant spices with a hint of refreshing orange zest. One bite and you'll vow to never buy canned cranberry sauce again! The best part is it comes together in under 30 minutes.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Course Side Dish
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients
 

  • ½ cup orange juice
  • ¾ cup sugar (white or brown) **See notes
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 4 whole cloves, most easily retrieved if put into a spice bag or cheesecloth
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 12 ounces fresh cranberries
  • 1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Instructions
 

  • Bring orange juice, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and cloves to a boil, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. **It is easiest to put the cloves in a spice bag or cheesecloth so they can be easily removed.
  • Once the mixture is boiling, add the cranberries and orange zest. Simmer over medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes, or until most of the cranberries have popped and are soft. Remove cinnamon sticks and cloves.
  • Let the cranberry sauce cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate.

Notes

**Sugar – For this recipe, you can either use granulated white sugar or brown sugar. Brown sugar will give you a slightly richer favor because of the molasses in the sugar. This recipe is delicious either way.
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MOLASSES CRINKLES

This cookie has a perfect mix of spices that give it a burst of flavor. Baked to perfection, it is crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, not to mention covered in beautiful cracks. I dare you to eat just one!

Just look at those beautiful cracks (aka crinkles)! They are almost too beautiful to eat…almost. This is another cookie I grew up on and has remained one of my favorites. When I had surgery a couple of years ago, my mom, remembering these as one of my favorites, mailed me a whole box of homemade molasses crinkles! I’m not sure my family even knew I got them…shhh…No, I didn’t share. But when I make them myself, I usually make a double batch. Half goes in the freezer, a good amount are eaten while warm, and some go in the cookie jar. These cookies even pass the “stay soft” test, as they are still soft on day 4! The last time I made these, my youngest said that I should make them every time! All this to say, these cookies are a “must make”! You need these cookies in your life! You can thank me later.

These cookies are pretty straightforward. But you must chill the dough for at least 2 hours. I will even make the dough the night before and bake the cookies the following day. If you chill the dough that long, let your dough sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. You don’t want the dough so cold that the cookies don’t spread out while baking.

I will admit that I am old school when it comes to molasses crinkles. I have always used the method of dipping two fingers in water and touching the sugary tops of each rolled ball. This wets the sugar and aids in giving the cookies beautiful cracks on top. Unfortunately, most recipes omit this step. Maybe I’m just a creature of habit, but my cookies have such beautiful tops with this method, and honestly, it doesn’t add much time to the whole process.

Some tricks to getting plump, soft cookies:

  • For this recipe, you must chill the dough. Chilling the dough before baking solidifies the fat in the cookies. As the cookies bake, the fat in the chilled cookie dough takes longer to melt than room-temperature fat. And the longer the fat remains solid, the less the cookies spread.
  • The recipe calls for 10-12 minutes. As a test, I did my first pan at 10 minutes, my second at 11 minutes, and the third at 12 minutes. I found that 11 minutes was the perfect time for plump, soft cookies with beautiful cracks. So don’t be afraid to play around with the baking times, as ovens slightly vary in how they bake. I would keep it to 1-minute adjustments.
  • One of the rules I follow for all my cookies involves how I cool them. When you take your cookies out of the oven, let them rest for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before attempting to move them to a cooling rack. They will be too soft to remove right away. But do not leave them on the hot baking sheet any longer than 2 minutes. They will continue to bake and spread out on the hot pan, and you will end up with flatter, crispier cookies instead of soft ones.
  • Another rule I always follow is to allow my baking sheets to come to room temperature before adding more cookie dough. Adding cookie dough to a hot or even warm pan will cause the fats in the dough to begin to soften and melt, resulting in a cookie that spreads out more and is flatter. If you do not want to wait for your pans to cool, run your pan under cool water for 20 to 30 seconds, dry, and continue with your baking.

With molasses, cloves, and cinnamon, these cookies would make a perfect addition to your holiday baking, whether it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas. I make them year-round because I can’t only have these once a year!

Molasses Crinkles

This cookie has a perfect mix of spices that give it a burst of flavor. Baked to perfection, it is crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, not to mention covered in beautiful cracks. I dare you to eat just one!
No ratings yet
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 48 minutes
Chill Time 2 hours
Total Time 3 hours 8 minutes
Course cookies
Servings 3 dozen

Ingredients
 

  • ¾ cup shortening
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup molasses
  • 2¼ cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • ½ cup granulated sugar, for dipping cookies

Instructions
 

  • In a standing mixer, cream together shortening, brown sugar, egg, and molasses thoroughly.
  • In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger until evenly incorporated.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined. Do not over-mix.
  • Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill. Chill for at least 2 hours, but it can be refrigerated overnight.
  • Preheat the oven to 375°F. Prepare baking sheets by lining them with silicone mats or parchment paper.
  • Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Roll the cookie in the granulated sugar.
  • Place dough balls on prepared baking sheets. Dip two fingers in a small bowl of water and touch the top of each cookie.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes (or until cookies are golden brown and nicely cracked on top but still soft in the center). I find 11 minutes is the perfect amount with my oven.
  • Allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to completely cool.
  • Allow the baking sheet to return to room temperature before adding more dough. For a quicker method, run your pan under cool water for 20 to 30 seconds, dry, and continue with your baking.

Notes

Store in an airtight container for 4 to 5 days.
These cookies freeze well. If you freeze them, it is best to eat them within 6 months.
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