I’m beyond excited that fresh cranberries are back in grocery stores. I have so many cranberry recipes that I barely know where to start. Cranberries are the perfect holiday baking ingredient. They bake up beautifully tart with a bright red color that looks just like jewels in any recipe. Come on! Get cranberry cooking!

Cranberry and Tart Cherry Compote

Bon Appetit November 2008

• 1 lime
• 1 1/2 cups cranberry juice cocktail
• 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
• 1 cup dried tart cherries
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (about 3 ounces)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 cup currant jelly (about one 10-ounce jar)
• Pinch of coarse kosher salt

Grate 1 1/2 teaspoons peel from lime; set aside. Cut off all peel and white pith from lime. Working over bowl, cut between membranes to release lime segments.

Bring cranberry juice to boil in large saucepan. Add lime segments, fresh cranberries, and next 4 ingredients; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until mixture thickens, about 8 minutes. Add currant jelly. Simmer until jelly is melted, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in lime peel and coarse salt. Transfer to small bowl. Cover; chill at least 4 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 week ahead. Keep chilled.

Discard cinnamon stick before serving.

Spiced Cranberry Bundt Cake

Bon Appetit November 2008

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup almond flour or almond meal* (about 2 1/2 ounces)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder**
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup plain reduced-fat (2%) Greek-style yogurt
• 1 cup chopped toasted almonds
• 1 cup halved fresh or frozen cranberries (do not thaw)
• 1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Whisk first 8 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add both sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract, then Greek-style yogurt. Add dry ingredients; beat just until blended. Fold in almonds and all cranberries. Transfer batter to prepared Bundt pan.

Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool cake in pan 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack and cool completely.

For icing:
Stir powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons orange juice in small bowl until sugar dissolves. Mix in more juice by 1/2 teaspoonfuls to reach consistency of heavy cream. Spoon icing over cake, allowing it to drip down sides. Let stand until icing sets, at least 30 minutes. DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover with cake dome and store at room temperature.

* Sometimes labeled “ground almonds”; available at specialty foods stores and natural foods stores.

** A spice blend that usually contains ground fennel seeds, Szechuan peppercorns, cinnamon, star anise, and cloves; available in the spice section of most supermarkets and online at penzeys.com.

Cranberry Winter Pudding

Gourmet November 1993

• a 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries, picked over
• 1 firm ripe-pear, peeled, cored, and chopped fine
• 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dried sour cherries (available at specialty foods shops) or golden raisins
• 1/3 cup finely chopped dried apricots
• two 2-inch strips of lemon zest removed with a vegetable peeler
• a 3-inch cinnamon stick
• 2 cups cranberry juice cocktail
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• about 10 slices of homemade-type white bread, crusts removed
• lightly sweetened whipped cream as an accompaniment

In a saucepan combine the cranberries, the pear, the brown sugar, the dried fruit, the zest, the cinnamon stick, the cranberry juice cocktail, the vanilla, and a pinch of salt and simmer the mixture for 10 minutes. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a bowl, reserving the solids, and transfer the cranberry liquid to a shallow dish. Line a 1 1/2-quart soufflé dish with plastic wrap and trim enough of the bread slices to cover the bottom and the side of the dish. Soak the trimmed slices in the cranberry liquid and line the bottom and the side of the soufflé dish with them.

Discard the zest and the cinnamon stick from the reserved cranberry solids and add the solids to the soufflé dish. Trim enough of the remaining bread slices to cover the cranberry solids, soak the trimmed slices in the cranberry liquid, and top the cranberry solids with them. Cover the pudding with plastic wrap, put a plate on top of the plastic wrap, and weight the pudding with three 1-pound cans. Chill the pudding, weighted, for at least 12 hours and up to 1 day. Invert the pudding onto a serving plate, discarding the plastic wrap, and serve it, cut into wedges, with the whipped cream.

Related posts

• Cranberry Coffee Cake
• Heart Shaped Dipped Krispies
• How To Put Together the Perfect Cheese Plate
• Is Fruitcake Ever Ok?
• Top 5 Holiday Desserts

Tags | baking, cranberry, Entertaining, Food, holiday