Add some pizzazz to your next meal with these tart and tangy red berries that aren’t just for Thanksgiving anymore.
By Janet Groene, F47166
January 2014
Now that dried cranberries are as common as raisins, this traditional holiday fruit has gone mainstream. Canned, fresh, frozen, and dried cranberries are a versatile staple for the motorhome cook.
The industry provides an agri-tourism treat to savor during your next visit to Wisconsin, where approximately 65 percent of the nation’s cranberries are produced. The state’s number-one fruit harvest provides the food for cranberry festivals, marsh tours, and cranberry processing plants. For information about cranberry-related tours, visit www.wiscran.org. To learn more about the Wisconsin Rapids area and the Cranberry Highway, call (800) 554-4484 or check out www.visitwisrapids.com.
Start your tour at the Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center in Warrens to see more than 150 years of history, including early cranberry harvesting machines and a log cabin where cranberry rakes were made by hand. While there, stop by the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, which is known for its birds and butterflies. Throughout the area, you’ll find many restaurants known for their cranberry specialties.
Let these recipes inspire you to become “bogged down” in a cranberry feast of your own. My own favorite cranberry caper is to mash a packet of onion soup mix into a can of whole-berry cranberry sauce. Spoon it over lean pork chunks or boneless, skinless chicken breasts in your slow cooker or oven. It forms a delicious sauce using only two ingredients.
Apple Cranberry Pot Pies
Save time by buying crumbled bacon in a package or jar. Artificial bacon bits are not recommended.
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 8-ounce package cornbread mix
2/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tart apples
4 tablespoons dried cranberries
4 teaspoons crumbled bacon
Squeeze-on margarine
4 slices of sharp cheddar cheese
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease four individual, ovenproof casseroles. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg and milk with a fork and then add the cornbread mix, flour, paprika, and cinnamon. Mix just until everything is evenly moistened. Divide the dough into the four baking dishes and use your fingers or the back of a damp spoon to form the dough into a crust on the bottom and up the sides of the dishes. Peel and dice the apples and arrange on the dough. Top with the cranberries and bacon bits and then drizzle lightly with the margarine or melted butter. Bake for 15 to 25 minutes or until the crusts are brown around the edges. Top with cheese and serve at once.
Cran-Apple Salad
This is another old-time classic that is popular at campground potlucks. Reduce the sugar content by using sugar-free gelatin and unsweetened applesauce.
1 4-serving packet of red gelatin dessert mix
1 cup boiling water
1 can of whole-berry cranberry sauce
2 large ribs of celery, diced
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup of applesauce
Dissolve the gelatin into the boiling water and mix in the remaining ingredients. Pour into a serving dish and chill the salad until it is firm. This recipe makes six servings.
Cranberry-Wild Rice Dressing
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large onions, diced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 1/2 cups water
1 package long-grain and wild rice mix (such as Uncle Ben’s)
3/4 cup dried cranberries
Heat the oil in a saucepan, stir in the onion and garlic, and cook until they soften. Add water as called for on the rice package and bring to a boil. Add the rice and stir in the dried cranberries; cover; reduce heat; and cook for 20 minutes or until the rice is tender.
Cranberry Curry
Curries are a motorhome menu favorite, because they can be different each time depending on what meats, vegetables, and condiments go with the basic sauce.
2 cups of cooked meat or poultry, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 heaping tablespoon flour or cornstarch
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon powdered bouillon (chicken, beef, or vegetable)
1 cup thawed peas
Cooked rice
Garnishes: peanuts, cashews, shredded coconut, mango chutney, diced bananas, or more cranberries
Fry the meat in hot oil to brown it, gradually stirring in the garlic, cranberries, and curry powder. Stir the flour or cornstarch into the cold water, and then stir it into the meat mixture with the powdered bouillon until the curry thickens. Fold in the peas to heat through. Serve over rice with the garnishes of your choice. This recipe makes four to six servings.
Cran-Pear-Y Sauce
This sauce is a tangy treat when you’re serving game, but it’s also a nice change from the cranberry sauce you usually serve with any fowl. Diced pears come in 8-ounce cans and in 4-ounce individual containers.
1 16-ounce package of cranberries
1 8-ounce can of pears, diced
Apple juice
1 teaspoon dried lemon or orange zest
2/3 cup of sugar
Applejack or other apple liqueur (optional)
Put the cranberries in a pan. Drain the pears and save the juice. Add enough apple juice to the pear juice to make 1 cup and pour into the pan with the cranberries, pears, zest, and sugar. Cover and cook over low-medium heat, stirring often, until the cranberries pop and liquefy. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and stir in the liqueur, one tablespoon at a time, to taste. This recipe makes approximately 3 cups of sauce.
Cold Oven Cranberry Cookies
1 package of miniature pretzels
2 tablespoons butter or shortening
1 10-ounce package of chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped nuts
Arrange approximately 15 pretzels on a sheet of waxed paper. (You will need more pretzels later.) In a microwave oven, heat the butter and chocolate morsels, stirring every 30 seconds until melted. Stir in the cranberries and nuts. Using two teaspoons, put a dollop of the mixture on each pretzel. When the chocolate begins to firm, press another mini pretzel on top. Cool until the chocolate is firm.
Cranberry Tart
1/2 stick of butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2/3 cup sugar, divided
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 can of whole-berry cranberry sauce, chilled
Whipped cream or topping
Set the oven to 375 degrees. Melt the butter in an 8-inch-square baking pan and stir in the graham cracker crumbs with 1/4-cup sugar until the mixture is crumbly. Press the cracker crumb mixture into the pan to make a crust and bake for 5 minutes. In a bowl, mix the remaining sugar with the cream cheese, egg, and milk. Pour the mixture into the crust and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the tart to cool. Using two teaspoons, cover the tart with the cranberry sauce in an even layer. Spread with whipped topping and chill. This recipe makes nine squares.
Crystalized Cranberries
Use these little jewels as a garnish or just pop them into your mouth. Make them in cool, dry weather and eat them on the first day. Use fresh cranberries.
32 fresh cranberries
1/2 cup sugar, plus additional for coating
1/4 cup water
Wash and pick over the cranberries and allow them to dry completely. Spread a layer of sugar on a length of waxed paper. Put the 1/2-cup sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn off the burner and carefully fold in the cranberries to coat them with the syrup. Use a slotted spoon to turn them out onto the sugar-lined paper. Gently separate the cranberries and sprinkle with more sugar as needed to coat them well. Allow to cool and dry.
More Ways with Cranberries
- Place a can of whole-berry cranberry sauce in a saucepan; mash the berries; and stir in 2 cups of maple-flavored pancake syrup. Warm the sauce over low-medium heat. Spoon the sauce over pancakes or toaster waffles or serve as a sauce with grilled chicken or ham.
- Soften ice cream and fold in 1/4-cup small chocolate chips and 1/4-cup dried cranberries per pint of ice cream. Refreeze the ice cream in the carton or in a graham cracker pie shell. Thaw for 10 minutes before cutting.
- Cut up dried cranberries and mash them into a softened brick of cream cheese along with some grated onion. Use as a cracker or sandwich spread.
- Boil a cup of fresh cranberries with 1/2-cup each sugar and water. When the cranberries pop open, remove them from the heat and allow them to cool. Fold in approximately 1 1/2 cups whipped topping and spread atop plain cheesecake or custard pie.
FMCA Members Chime In
Jerry and Jan Nickeson, F358306, shared these two scrumptious, super-easy recipes. In the first, use more or fewer Red Hots to taste.
Red Hot Apple Pie In A Mug
1 medium Fuji apple, cored and cut in 1/2-inch cubes
12-15 Red Hots cinnamon-flavored candies
2 low-fat cinnamon graham crackers
Dash of cinnamon
Whipped topping
Put the apple cubes in a microwavable cup or mug. Top with the candies. Cover and cook in the microwave oven for 2 minutes. Stir; re-cover; and cook for another minute or two if necessary until the apples are soft. Crush the graham crackers in a plastic bag. When the apples have cooled, stir in the graham cracker crumbs but reserve some of the crumbs for the top. Add whipped topping if you wish.
The Nickesons’ Apple Pie Bites
1 tube crescent rolls
1 peeled, cored apple sliced into 8 pieces
Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar
Separate the rolls into triangles. Place one piece of apple and a generous sprinkling of cinnamon sugar in the middle of each triangle. Roll the individual triangles up and bake for 11 to 13 minutes at 350 degrees.
{loadpositionEndBlurbCooking}