Name: Pear-Ginger Cranberry Sauce
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Ingredients: 3/4 cups ginger beer; 3/4 cup granulated sugar; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger; 1 firm pear , peeled, cored, and shredded; 1 (12-ounce) bag cranberries (see note), picked through

Why This Recipe Works

The standard back-of-the-bag recipe for cranberry sauce was a little soupy. Cranberries contain a lot of water, and cutting down on the additional liquid yielded the ideal consistency. Replacing the water with ginger beer and adding grated fresh ginger added a unique flavor to our Pear-Ginger Cranberry Sauce. Shredded pear added sweetness. We found frozen cranberries worked equally well as fresh, but we needed to increase the cooking time slightly. Leaving our Pear-Ginger 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. Ginger ale can be substituted for the ginger beer, though the ginger flavor will be less pronounced

Instructions

Bring ginger beer, sugar, and salt to boil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add cranberries, pear, and ginger and simmer until slightly thickened and two-thirds of berries have burst, about 5 minutes. Transfer to serving bowl and cool completely, at least 1 hour. Serve. (Sauce can be refrigerated for 1 week.)