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Even more uses for this tart and tasty berry

By John Fladd

jfladd@hippopress.com

For many of us, the question “cranberry sauce — whole berry, jellied from a can, or not at all?” is as much thought we invest in cranberries. But if you are looking for a seasonally festive way of using them other than on a Thanksgiving plate, here are some thoughts.

Cranberries in NH

While there are no commercial cranberry bogs in New Hampshire, cranberries do grow in the wild here.

Christine Gagnon is the owner and operator of the Uncanoonuc Foraging Co. (uncforaging.com). She finds wild foods for a living. Once she became aware of wild cranberries and knew what to look for, she says, she suddenly started finding them everywhere, especially low to the ground in marshy areas.

“A friend of mine and I were out duck hunting a couple weeks ago,” she gave as an example. “We were looking for ducks, not cranberries, but it so happens that one of the spots is where we were duck hunting and it was full of cranberries, which was nice. So we collected a bunch. I was really surprised to see that [the cranberry plants] were so small; I imagined it would be something like a bush or a shrub. The plants like growing low to the ground, even lower than blueberries. Someone had said to me, ‘Oh, you should leave them and collect them in the spring after they’ve overwintered.’ I guess there’s a process when they freeze that bursts the cells and releases the sugars and makes them sweeter. But I think all the animals would take them before that happened.”

Baking with cranberries

Because of their tartness and color, cranberries are a natural for baking. Trina Bird, head baker at Lighthouse Local in Bedford (lighthouse-local.com), is a fan.

“Cranberries are perfect for sweet bakery items,” she said. “They are amazing paired with orange and used in scones, muffins and quick breads. [Cranberry] lends itself to a sweet glaze courtesy of its tartness, so we use it for a cranberry glazed doughnut every year, and we sugar them as toppings.They work well fresh or frozen; they are very adaptable.”

Cranberry-Orange Muffins

As Chef Bird said, cranberry and orange are a classic combination. Both are slightly acidic, and orange brings sweetness to the party, which is balanced by the tartness of the cranberries.

1¾ cups (220 g) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) butter

½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar

¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar

Zest from one large orange

2 eggs

½ cup (120 g) full-fat sour cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

¼ cup (60 g) orange juice – You’ve just zested a perfectly good orange. Cut it in half, jam your fingers into it, and confront your anger issues.

1 cup (99 g) fresh or frozen cranberries – If you’re using frozen, don’t thaw them. They’ll get mushy. If you use them frozen, the muffin batter will lock them in place.

1 cup (115 g) sweetened, dried cranberries

sanding sugar to top

Preheat your oven to 475°F.

Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. This might be one big muffin tin or two smaller ones.

In a medium bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.

With your stand or hand mixer, beat the butter until it’s fluffy, then add the sugars and beat again. Lower the speed and mix in the eggs, one at a time, then the orange zest, then the vanilla and orange juice, then the sour cream. When it’s all combined, add the flour mixture, a large spoonful at a time (this is to prevent it from poofing up in your face). Mix until the batter just barely comes together, then stir in both types of cranberries by hand. Divide the mixture between the 12 muffin cups. Dust the tops with sanding sugar.

Quickly, because the sour cream and orange juice are acidic and are going to start interacting with the baking soda right away, move the muffin tin(s) to the middle rack of your oven, and bake for five minutes. Then, not opening the oven door, crash the oven temperature down to 350°F and bake for another 16 minutes or so. Remove them from the oven when a toothpick comes out clean.

There’s a question a lot of us have asked ourselves from time to time: What is the difference between a cupcake and a muffin? In technical terms, a cupcake is supposed to have a light, delicate texture, just like a cake. This is what bakers call a “fine crumb.” Muffins, on the other hand, are denser. In practical terms, they are both equally good with ice cream. These are very orangey, very cranberry-y muffins. The fresh cranberries give a pop of tart fruitiness, and the dried ones give a sweeter, chewier experience. The sanding sugar on top gives a really satisfying crunch.

Cranberry Cookies

Cranberry and orange are such a classic flavor combination that it often becomes a default base for baked goods. The truth is that cranberries go well with a host of other flavors — in this case, cornmeal, fresh mint, and almonds in the form of amaretto.

¾ cup (90 g) all-purpose flour

¾ cup (120 g) yellow cornmeal

¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon coarse salt

½ cup (1 stick) butter

¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon (4 to 5 g) finely chopped
fresh mint leaves

1 large egg

1 Tablespoon amaretto

2 cups (1 8-ounce bag) dried, sweetened cranberries

Sanding sugar

Preheat your oven to 425°F.

In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

With a hand mixer or in a stand mixer, beat the butter until it is fluffy. Add the sugar and beat it again. You will probably have to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber or silicone spatula.

One at a time, mix in the mint, then the egg, then the amaretto. Add the flour mixture to the dough, a large spoonful at a time, to avoid getting poofed with it. Everything should mix together pretty well, but some cornmeal might remain at the bottom of the bowl, much like the sensible member of a group of friends who has doubts about the group’s plans. Finishing the batter by hand will resolve those doubts. Stir in the dried cranberries.

Roll tablespoonfuls of the cookie dough into balls, then roll them in sanding sugar. Place six balls on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, then flatten them to half their height with the bottom of a drinking glass.

Bake for eight to 10 minutes.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. Because they have less wheat flour than usual, there isn’t a lot of gluten to hold them together, so letting them sit will let them set up. Even so, it’s probably a good idea to remove them with a spatula, after which they will be able to stand proud and look the world in the eye like any other cookies.

In a mundane and predictable world, these cookies provide a pleasant surprise. The cornmeal gives them texture. The flavors of the mint and amaretto come seemingly out of nowhere, giving them a mouth-watering quality, and the coarse salt gives little pops of flavor each time you bite down on a grain of it. These are highly recommended and will buy you street cred at this year’s cookie swap.

Cranberry Bakewell Tart

The bakewell tart is a cornerstone of British baking. By tradition it consists of a buttery tart shell, a layer of raspberry jam, and a top layer of frangipane — a creamy filling made from ground almonds. It is usually frosted with a coat of royal icing.

This take on the bakewell substitutes homemade cranberry jam for the raspberry layer, omits the royal icing to keep it from being too sweet, and reduces any fussiness by making it in a springform pan.

Crust

1 1/2 cups (180 g) all-purpose flour

4 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup (57 g) powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1 Tablespoon water

Whisk the flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar and salt together. Add the melted butter and water, and stir to combine with a wooden spoon.

Press the dough into the bottom of a lined 9-inch springform pan and bake for 20 minutes at 350°F. Set it aside to take a breather while you work on the jam and frangipane.

Cranberry Jam

3 cups (283 g) frozen whole cranberries – this will work with unfrozen whole berries, but the freezing process pokes holes in the cell walls of the cranberries, something called “bletting,” which helps break them down

1 cup (198 g) sugar

1 Tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice

Combine all three ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, until the juice is released from the berries and starts to boil. Mash the berries with a potato masher, then boil for another 10 minutes. Cranberries contain a lot of something called pectin, a natural fiber that helps jams and jellies set. Boiling this syrupy mixture will activate the pectin and reduce the amount of water. You will raise an eyebrow at how jammy this jam gets.

Frangipane

1/4 cup (half a stick) butter, melted

1 cup (198 g) sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups (145 g) almond flour

1/4 cup (5 g) sliced almonds

Beat the sugar together with the melted butter. Add the eggs, one at a time. Then add the vanilla, and finally the almond flour and sliced almonds.

Layer the cooled jam on top of the crust you baked in the springform pan, then layer the frangipane on top of the jam.

Bake for 40 minutes at 350°F.

Let the tart cool in the springform pan. When you’re ready to depan it, run a sharp knife under hot water and then around the inside of the pan. Dust the top with powdered sugar.

The sweetness and the slight fruitiness of the almonds is offset by the slightly musky tartness of the cranberry jam. (Which, not for nothin’, is excellent to make on its own for various jam purposes.)

Cranberries and cheese

“The thing about cranberries,” said Emma Round, owner of Unwined Wine Bar in Milford (unwinednh.com), “is they’re tart. The three main words I would use to describe them are tart, tannic and astringent. The reason that so many people put cranberries and cheese together is that astringency and that kind of tartness — it cuts the flavor of the cheese’s creamy, fatty goodness that can weigh you down. They just make those fats so much easier to digest — depending on which cheeses you pair the cranberry with. I’m not a cheesemonger, but I’ve eaten my fair share of cheese.”

Baked Brie with Pickled Cranberries

1½ cups (340 g) apple cider vinegar

¾ cup (170 g) water

1½ cups (300 g) sugar

3 Tablespoons maple syrup

¼ cup (4 Tablespoons) honey

1-inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced thin

Peel of a large orange – use a sharp vegetable peeler to take off the thin, orange part of the peel, but not the bitter white pith under it

1 lemon, sliced extremely thin

½ teaspoon whole coriander seeds

1 pound (three 5.5-ounce packages) unsweetened, dried cranberries

1 16-ounce (453 g) wheel of brie

Mix all ingredients but the cranberries and the brie together in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, and boil for a further 10 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat, and leave the ingredients to steep until the mixture cools. Strain the mixture, rinse out the pan, then return the liquid to the pan, with the dried cranberries. Stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a vigorous boil, then turn off the heat, and leave everything to sit for a couple of hours. During this time the cranberries will soak up most, but not all, of the liquid. Store the pickled cranberries in your refrigerator for up to two weeks, until you’re ready to use them.

Remove the brie from your refrigerator, unwrap it, and score the rind in a diamond pattern. Bake at 350°F for 15 to 20 minutes, then transfer it to a serving plate or platter, or cheese board, and serve with slices of fresh fruit and a super-generous amount of the pickled cranberries.

The sweet, acidity of the pickled cranberries will contrast deliciously with the rich, slightly musky butteriness of the brie.

Savory cranberry applications

Because cranberries pair so well with herbs, nuts and grains, they are an excellent addition to savory dishes. While not native to the Middle East, for instance, dried cranberries can bring notes of raisins and pomegranates to Middle Eastern dishes.

Persian-style cranberry rice pilaf

2 cups (430 g) white or basmati rice

4 cups (900 g) water

1 teaspoon salt

1 small onion (approximately 115 g), sliced super-thin

3 Tablespoons ghee — This is an Indian clarified butter. Do not use regular butter, which will scorch. Coconut oil would be a good substitute, though; it has a high smoke-point (That means it won’t burn easily) and brings flavor to the proceedings.

½ teaspoon ground turmeric

1½ teaspoons ground sumac — this is a Middle Eastern spice available from a spice market or online. It’s very sour, which will complement the cranberries and balance out some of the sweetness. Dehydrated lemon juice powder is a good substitute, but the sumac will give you a better depth of flavor.

¼ teaspoon salt

⅓ cup (75 g) granulated sugar

1½ cups (200 g), about one 8-ounce package, sweetened dried cranberries

2 Tablespoons water

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

A large pinch of saffron soaked in 2 Tablespoons warm water

1/3 cup (50 g) chopped salted roasted pistachios

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

In a lidded baking or casserole dish, mix the rice, 2 cups of water, and teaspoon of salt. Cover and bake for 50 minutes. This will cook the rice to a very tender texture. If you prefer your rice to have distinct, independent grains, cook it on your stovetop. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a large skillet, melt the ghee and cook the onions until they are soft and translucent. Add the salt and spices and stir to combine. Let the spices get toasty for a minute or so — your kitchen will start to smell like a Middle Eastern restaurant — then stir in the sugar, cranberries and 2 tablespoons of water. Cook, stirring frequently, until the cranberries have plumped up and absorbed most of the liquid. There might be a little golden oil left; that’s OK.

Add the vegetable oil, rice and saffron water to a large, lidded pot. Stir to combine. Spoon the cranberry-onion mixture over the top of the rice, and top with the pistachios.

Cover the pot with a thin tea towel and the pot’s lid. This will help seal in the steam you need to finish this dish. Cook over medium-high heat for three minutes to sear the rice, then crash the temperature down to the lowest setting and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let it rest for five to 10 minutes.

This pilaf is one of those “Is this supposed to be sweet or savory?” dishes that is extremely appealing. It contrasts sweet and sour and salty and savory in the best possible way.

Anyone who grew up in a culture with rice that has a crispy layer stuck to the bottom of the pot will tell you that the crispy stuff is the best part. When you serve this, make sure you scrape the crispy part from the pan for your family to fight over.

Drinking cranberries

Cranberry Syrup

Cranberry syrup is similar in flavor and sweetness to grenadine, a pomegranate syrup used in cocktails to give color and a sweet/sour fruity taste. The two syrups can be used interchangeably.

Combine equal amounts of unsweetened cranberry juice and sugar in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Cool and bottle. This should last at least a month in your refrigerator.

Captain Cranberry, a cranberry mocktail

¾ ounce cranberry syrup (see above)

4 ounces ginger beer – not ginger ale; this is ever so much better with the real stuff. I like anything labeled as Jamaican or Caribbean-style ginger beer. Goya makes a good one. It is very much more gingery than the ginger ale you use to settle your stomach on a long flight, and often spicy.

Plain seltzer to taste

In a mixing glass — you can use a glass measuring cup for this — stir the cranberry syrup and ginger beer together over ice. This is a case where you don’t want to shake the drink and risk losing the soda’s carbonation.

Strain over fresh ice in a Collins glass, then mix in seltzer until it is at your preferred level of sweetness and ginger-intensity. Garnish with fresh or frozen whole cranberries, or even pickled cranberries.

This will make a lovely drink to carry around with you at a holiday gathering if you don’t want to get grilled by your cousin’s husband about why you aren’t drinking. It looks and tastes sophisticated enough that you won’t get pegged as a lightweight even if you are.

District Manager

2 ounces cachaca or flavorful rum

1½ ounces grapefruit juice

½ teaspoon dehydrated grapefruit juice powder – optional

¾ ounce cranberry syrup

2 dashes bitters – Angostura or cardamom bitters are good for this. I used some homemade caraway bitters I had on hand and was pleased with the result.

Grapefruit twist to garnish – Use a vegetable peeler to remove a long strip of rind from a fresh grapefruit. You are looking to take just the outer layer and not the white, pithy part underneath. Roll the strip and skewer it with a toothpick.

In a cocktail shaker, add the rum or cachaca, the grapefruit juice, the cranberry syrup and the bitters. If you are using fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice and aren’t happy with its intensity, you can add dehydrated grapefruit juice powder to bump up the grapefruitiness without throwing off the drink’s proportions.

Shake thoroughly, until you hear the ice start to break up in the shaker. Strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass, and garnish with a grapefruit twist.

The use of fruit juice and a fruit syrup might give you the impression that this is a frivolous cocktail. This is a serious, grown-up drink that tastes almost whiskey-like. You can easily imagine high-level management elves drinking a few of these at the North Pole in a meeting looking over their quarterly production figures.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo