Candied cranberries

I love cranberries! And as it turns out, they are really healthy for you too.

Unfortunately, fresh cranberries are only available here for a few months. Last year, I must have panicked as the season came to an end because I bought....well, let's just say a lot of them in the hope to somehow preserve that little bundle of delight. When my husband gave me the "look", the one that required some kind of intelligent answer about what I was planning on doing with all these cranberries, I had to get creative and learned how to preserve them as candied cranberries. I also froze a bunch but learned that for long term freezing they need a little more preparation (like putting them in a freezer container) than just sticking them in the freezer. They lost much of their flavor and got mushy.

The candied cranberries were such a hit that I this year purposely bought some just for that purpose. They taste great in salads and baked items.

I have read so, so, so many ways how different people candy cranberries and I am sure they are all great, but here is how I have had really good luck in keeping a hint of the unique tartness and preserving much of their shape.

Rinse 2 cups of cranberries while you make a simple syrup of 1.5 cups of sugar and 1.5 cup of water. Add the cranberries and turn the heat down until it barely simmers. You want to cook the cranberries but not turn them into a mushy relish. I let them simmer for 40 minutes and then let them cool in the syrup.

The next day, drain the cranberries from the syrup and boil the syrup down to nearly half the amount. Place the cranberries on a pan (I lined the pan with tin foil for easy clean up) and pour the condensed syrup over the cranberries. Place them then in an oven at 300F for 30-40 minutes.

Take them out but leave them in the pan and sit overnight on the counter. Next morning, you can take them out of the syrup and let them dry on a cookie sheet for the day.

If you want to store them, place them in a container and store them in the fridge for up to a month. Might be able to keep longer, but I am not sure and it would never make it than long in my house anyway.

As I said, you can add them as is to your meals or...make your favorite cookies!!