Sugared Cranberries are an easy, beautiful way to decorate your table, Christmas tree, cheese plate, mousse, or even cupcakes! They are simple to put together, but I like to let them sit overnight, so start these the day before if you can. You can still make them the day of if you don’t have the time, and all will be well, but the sugar tends to adhere better and give it a better sugar crust if you let them sit overnight.
If you want a deeper molasses flavor, you can use raw sugar or brown sugar to make the simple syrup, but white sugar works great as well. To roll the sugar, it works best to use a coarser-grained sugar, like an organic variety (but not as large as a raw sugar). If you roll it a second time in a fine sugar (just pulse your sugar a few times in your blender!), then it will cover any bare, sticky spots that the coarse sugar didn’t get. This is optional, but gives the cranberries better coverage.
Sugared Cranberries
Ingredients:
- 1 (12 oz) bag fresh cranberries
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- coarse sugar (for rolling)
- fine sugar (for rolling a second time, if desired)
Directions:
- Wash cranberries and discard any that are bruised, damaged or shriveled.
- Combine one cup of water and one cup of sugar in a pot, and bring to a simmer. Stir until sugar is dissolved and remove from heat. Let cool until it is warm, and pour over cranberries. {Do not pour hot syrup over your cranberries or they could burst.} Let sit overnight, or at least until the syrup has cooled.
- Remove cranberries from syrup with a slotted spoon and let drain on a cooling rack for about an hour (I like to place mine over a cookie sheet to catch the drips).
- Working in small batches, roll the sticky cranberries in the coarse sugar, and place on a clean cookie sheet to continue drying.
- Once all the cranberries have been rolled in coarse sugar, roll again in fine sugar to fill in any spots the coarse sugar missed, if desired. Place on cookie sheet to finish drying (give them a couple more hours if you can).
- Store in an air tight container at room temperature.
*My 6 year old niece came over for Thanksgiving and inhaled these cranberries! So if you like a tart-sweet combination, this is a great snack!
