Name: Orange-Maple Cranberry Sauce
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Cuisine: US & Canada
Ingredients: 3/4 cups orange juice; 1/2 cup maple syrup; 1 orange , peeled, segemented, and chopped; Pinch cayenne pepper; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 (12-ounce) bag cranberries (see note), picked through

Why This Recipe Works

The standard back-of-the-bag recipe for Orange-Maple Cranberry Sauce was a little soupy. Cranberries contain a lot of water, and cutting down on the additional liquid yielded the ideal consistency. We found frozen cranberries worked equally well as fresh, but we needed to increase the cooking time slightly. Leaving our Basic Cranberry Sauce on the stove for too long left us with a mushy red mash, so it was important to keep a close eye on it as it cooked.

Before You Begin

Fresh and frozen cranberries work equally well. If you are using frozen, add one to two minutes to the cooking time. Be sure to use real maple syrup, not the maple-flavored stuff. See below for our tips for easy citrus segmenting.

Instructions

Bring orange juice, maple syrup, and salt to boil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add cranberries and cayenne pepper and simmer until slightly thickened and two-thirds of berries have burst, about 5 minutes. Transfer to serving bowl.

Add chopped orange and cool completely, at least 1 hour. Serve. (Sauce can be refrigerated for 1 week.)