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
Equipment
- 4-quart heavy bottom saucepan with lid
Ingredients
- 24 ounces fresh cranberries (rinsed and picked over)
- 1 cup golden raisins
- 1 cup maple syrup
- ½ cup fresh orange juice
- ½ cup water
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- zest of 1 orange (plus extra for garnish)
Preparation
- 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.
- 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.
Nutrition
More Thanksgiving Sides
For the complete list of The Kids Cook Monday recipes, visit my Cooking with Kids page.
Germaine says
Yummy!!! Love cranberries and your photo is so lovely!
Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) says
Looks like something my grandkids would love to make -- maybe this will be their assignment on Thanksgiving day!
Lizzy M. says
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
Emma says
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.
Delora says
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.