Thanksgiving Leftover Cooking: Cranberry-Orange Muffins

This recipe is from my great-grandmother. Great-grandmother recipes need no introduction because they are always good. My favorite thing about these muffins, aside from the taste, is that the batter is such a pretty pink!

• 2 cups flour (gluten free flour should work too!)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 - 3 cups leftover cranberry sauce (puréed) or raw relish. If you have no cranberry sauce or relish, finely chop 4-6 oz cranberries and add 1/2 a cup sugar.
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• one large egg
• 1/3 cup sugar (optional, muffins will be nice and tart without it)
• orange juice as needed to moisten batter

1) Preheat oven to 350
2) Purée cranberry sauce (if not using a relish)

3) Mix together ingredients, no particular order necessary.
4) Spoon into a greased muffin tin.
5) Bake for 18-20 minutes

Delicious with pumpkin cream cheese!

Apple, Cranberry and Pecan Stuffing

I have never been a huge fan of stuffing, but I really like this version. It's a great, comfortable combination of flavors that was popular with all ages last year.

·       6 T butter

·       1 large loaf of bread (gluten free if necessary), staled or cut into small pieces and baked until crisp

·       1 large onion

·       5 celery stalks

·       salt & pepper

·       ½ cup dry white wine

·       2 large, tart apples

·       1 cup dried cranberries

·       1 cup toasted pecan pieces

·       1 T thyme leaves

 

1)    Stale your bread if you haven’t already by baking small pieces in the oven on a cookie sheet at 350 for about 10 minutes. While you’re at it, toast your pecan pieces (it’s easiest to Cuisinart chop them).

2)    Cuisinart-chop your onion and sauté in the butter, salt and pepper until soft, about 10-12 minutes.

3)    Cuisinart-chop the celery and hand-cut the apples and add to the pan.

4)    Add wine and cook until the celery and apples are tender. Do not cook until dry – be sure there is still some liquid in the pan.

5)    Turn off heat and cover.

6)    Combine bread, cranberries, pecans and thyme. 

7) Mix onion mixture with bread mixture. 

8) If inserting into turkey, do so now and bake as directed by turkey recipe.

9) If baking separately, place in a covered dish and bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Then remove cover and bake until browned, probably 20 - 30 minutes more.

Easiest Cranberry Sauce Ever (Not From a Can)

My mom has been making this cranberry relish ever since... forever. Before that, my great grandmother made it. It's incredibly delicious. The sweet zing of the orange compliments the cranberries fantastically. And thanks to the wonderful invention of the Cuisinart/blender, it is now the easiest cranberry sauce/relish ever (if you don't include buying it in a can).

Ingredients:

One bag/pound of cranberries
One orange
1.25 cups of sugar


1) Wash and pick through the cranberries and remove the gooey ones.
2) Place the good cranberries in the Cuisinart/blender. Chop until it's about the consistency of hot dog relish.
3) Remove and place in a bowl.
4) Slice an orange and remove the seeds (and sticker if it has one). Add the entire orange, including the peel, to the Cuisinart/blender. Chop just like the cranberries.
5) Stir the cranberries and orange together. Add sugar. You're done!

Cranberry sauce can be made up to 2 weeks ahead of time. It's so acidic, it doesn't go bad very quickly.