Clementine Cranberry Sauce

I’ve never made cranberry sauce before, but I wanted to make a Harvest Fruit Crisp for my family tomorrow. The last time I bought cranberries, I got them at our local food co-op, and I got to purchase them in whatever quantity I liked, but at our local ShopRite that’s about three minutes away, there’s only the ones that come in a 12oz bag. So, I had a lot of cranberries left over and I figured that it was about the time of year that cranberry sauce would be appreciated.

We also bought one of the first crates of clementines that ended up in our grocery recently, but they weren’t terribly sweet, so they haven’t disappeared very quickly. I threw a couple into this recipe since citrus and cranberry pair together nicely, and in hopes that the next crate of clementines will be a bit more palatable to simply snack on.

Ingredients

1/3 cup natural sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
zest of 2 clementines
juice of 2 clementines
3/4 cup water
3/4 package fresh cranberries (about 8 oz)
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Directions

Dump all of the ingredients except the cornstarch into a medium saucepan.

Bring to a boil, then reduce and let simmer for about ten minutes. You’ll see and hear cranberries popping, but this is normal. Once it has simmered, if it’s not quite thick enough, add the cornstarch to a bit of water, then add that to the cranberry mixture. Stir it well.

Remove from heat, and allow to cool. I’m refrigerating mine overnight and serving it up tomorrow!

Harvest Fruit Crisp

*Note: I don’t usually consume much of the sweets I’ve made. Mostly, I bake for other people. This crisp, however, is so delicious… well… let’s just say that I won’t have to worry about distributing any at work in order for it all to get eaten. This is another recipe with the sugar cut back, but make sure you taste your apples – if they’re very bland, you may want to add a bit more sugar.

Today was our last farm share delivery of the season, and we got yet another harvest of apples. As I mentioned in this entry, autumn is a great time to take advantage of local harvests. I haven’t done any baking with apples lately, though, so ours were accumulating. I’d meant to make a crisp last week, and this week, I was low on energy after working and picking up the share, but, well, I’d thrown a pot of vegetable stock on to boil, and I had some free time on my hands. And thus, the Harvest Crisp is born.

I was really dying to stir in about a half cup of pumpkin puree with the apples, but I didn’t want to open a whole can when I only have the huge ones.

This recipe is kind of like stone soup. You can substitute what you have and adjust what you don’t. I’m going to throw in some suggestions, but feel free to improvise. I’ve bolded the choices that I made.

Ingredients

5-8 medium apples, preferably of mixed variety, peeled, cored, and sliced
2-3 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced (optional)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
A handful of walnuts or almonds (optional)
A handful of fresh cranberries, dried currants, or raisins (optional)
A handful of sunflower seeds

And, everyone will need:

1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons natural sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
a bit of lemon juice (to keep the apples from browning)
1 stick unsalted butter or soy butter, cut into chunks

Directions

Toss the fruit in the lemon juice, and, if using, the pumpkin puree.

Arrange the fruit in the bottom of an oven-safe casserole dish or 9×13 baking pan.

In a stand mixer, or, with a pastry blender, cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients (oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, natural sugar, brown sugar, salt). Mix until large crumbs are formed and the mixture has an even texture.

Stir in any miscellaneous ingredients such as, in this case, the cranberries and walnuts. Spread the oat mixture over the fruit evenly so that the fruit is completely covered.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until the crisp is brown and the fruit is bubbling. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.