Jan’s Cocktail Cranberry Sauce

While I have many recipes that I tinker with, wife Jan has her own dishes with which to play. She really likes cranberry sauce, but she is still looking for the perfect recipe—sauce 1, sauce 2, sauce 3. She felt that sometimes adding ground spices left some of her sauces “gritty.” This Thanksgiving she decided to use a cocktail of spice/fruit flavored liqueurs.

Jan’s Cocktail Cranberry Sauce

Note: We are having a double Thanksgiving. We had Jan’s brothers over for Thanksgiving, but we are also having Chris and Miriam for Sunday dinner—they spent Thanksgiving with his mother.

After Dinner Note: Everyone really liked this sauce.

Jan’s Cocktail Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients

24 oz. (2 bags) cranberries

2 cups fresh orange  juice
½ cup Karl’s Orange Infused Sugar
1½ cups dark brown sugar

¼ cup ruby port
2 Tbs. St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
1 Tbs. Myer Lemon Liqueur

Directions

1. Rinse and pick through the cranberries.

Tip: Discard any that are overly soft.

Note: Raw cranberries should be fairly firm, if they are soft they may be starting to rot inside.

2. Put the berries in a medium pot and add the juice and sugars.

3. Bring the pot to a boil, uncovered, and reduce the heat to a high simmer.

4. Cook the berries until they are starting to “pop,” about 5-10 minutes.

5. Add the port and liqueurs and simmer until almost all of the berries are ruptured and the sauce has thickened, Another 10-20 minutes.

6. Transfer the sauce to one or two serving bowls and cover with plastic wrap.

7. Refrigerate for at least one hour, to set.

8. Serve chilled.