We’re doing a special Thanksgiving edition of The Kids Cook Monday, because what better time to get the whole family in the kitchen than for one of the most festive meals of the year? There are several parts of the traditional Thanksgiving meal that the kids can help with, and one of our boys’ favorites is the cranberry sauce. It’s also a great make-ahead dish, so you can have it ready in the refrigerator up to three days before.
This cranberry sauce includes golden raisins and is sweetened slightly with maple syrup and flavored with orange juice and zest, cinnamon, and cloves. It makes a good size batch that will serve 6 to 8 people, and it’s easy enough that a 9-year-old can make it.
Make sure to visit The Kids Cook Monday for more recipes to cook with your kids.
How Adults Can Help the Kids
- Demonstrate and assist with any tasks that might be new: zesting, measuring, pouring, stirring.
- Assign the simpler tasks, such as washing the cranberries and pouring in the ingredients, to the younger kids, and save the more challenging tasks for the older kids and adults.
Safety Tips
- Make sure an adult is present at all times.
- Young children should not handle zesters, as they are extremely sharp. Make sure an adult or older child or teenager does the zesting.
MAPLE ORANGE CRANBERRY SAUCE
Serves 6 to 8.
Equipment
4-quart heavy bottom saucepan with lid
Ingredients
2 (12-ounce/340 g bags) fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over
1 cup (160 g) golden raisins
1 cup (240 ml) maple syrup
1/2 cup (120 ml) fresh orange juice
1/2 cup (120 ml) water
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
zest of 1 orange, plus extra for garnish
Preparation
1. In the 4 quart saucepan, stir together the cranberries, raisins, maple syrup, water, and orange juice. Bring to a boil and cook while stirring, until the cranberries begin to pop, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the cinnamon, cloves, and orange zest and bring back to a simmer. Continue cooking for another 3 to 5 minutes. Allow to cool completely before serving. Garnish with strips of orange zest.
More Kids Cook Monday Recipes
More Cranberry Recipes From Around the Blogs
Gluten-Free Goddess – Red Quinoa with Butternut Squash, Cranberries, and Pecans
What We’re Eating – Baked Camembert with Cranberry Orange Relish
Inspired Taste – Roasted Acorn Squash with Walnuts and Cranberries
Leite’s Culinaria – Wild Rice with Roasted Chestnuts and Cranberries
[An original post from Andrea Meyers: making life delicious. All images and text copyrighted, All Rights Reserved.]
[Disclosure: This blog earns a few cents on items purchased through the Amazon.com links in posts.]
Yummy!!! Love cranberries and your photo is so lovely!
Looks like something my grandkids would love to make — maybe this will be their assignment on Thanksgiving day!
Last year I made a cranberry sauce with crystalized ginger, but this year I was looking for something different. I came across your recipe and I think it will work out great. I put a link to your site so hopefully other people will also be motivated to try it out Thursday.
http://whatcanyoueatblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/cranberry-sauce-with-crystalized-ginger.html
I can’t wait to give this a try – I typically make a cranberry sauce using apple cider and maple syrup, but this looks fun and different.
I’d never used maple syrup in cranbrry sauce before, so tried this. Yum! Also added dried dates and figs because I had them in the house.