Cranberry Ginger Jelly Food

SWEET-AND-TART CRANBERRY GINGER JELLY

Steps:

• Put cranberries, sugar, ginger, and 2 cups water into a medium saucepan. Cover, and bring to a simmer; cook, stirring occasionally, until berries are soft, about 10 minutes. Pour through a sieve into a medium bowl; discard solids.
• Meanwhile, put 1/2 cup cold water into a bowl; sprinkle with gelatin. Let soften 5 minutes. Add cranberry mixture; stir until gelatin has dissolved. Refrigerate, covered, at least 4 hours (up to 1 week).

SUNNY'S APPLE AND GINGER CRANBERRY JELLY MOLDS

Steps:

• Add the apples (seeds and all), cranberry juice, ginger and cinnamon stick to a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and steep on medium until the apples are mushy, about 25 minutes. Strain the contents of the pot using a fine-mesh sieve and a moist paper towel or cheesecloth. Do not press anything through the sieve. Allow to drip to about 2 cups of liquid. Discard the solids.
• Wipe the pot clean or rinse with water. Pour all but 1/4 cup of the liquid back into the pot and add the sugar. Cook on medium high until the sugar dissolves.
• Add the gelatin to the reserved 1/4 cup liquid and stir. Stir this into the pot and remove from the heat. Let cool until just warm.
• Coat the inside of four 8-ounce ridged party cups (or several shot glass-size party cups) with cooking spray (you may want to double the cups so you don't warp them). Once the liquid has cooled a bit, divide among the cups. Place on a tray and refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours.
• To unmold, dunk the sides of the cups in warm water and wiggle out the jelly.

CRANBERRY JELLY

Steps:

• Put the cranberries in a saucepan. Remove wide strips of zest from 1/2 orange with a peeler; add to the saucepan with the juice of both oranges (about 1/2 cup). Add the sugar, coriander, a pinch of salt and 1 cup water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until the berries burst and the sauce thickens, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Remove from the heat and remove the orange zest; stir in the vanilla. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a serving dish, pushing the sauce through with a rubber spatula. Refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours.

CRANBERRY GINGER JELLY

Steps:

• Combine cranberries, sugar, ginger, and 2 cups water in a medium saucepan. Cover, and bring to a simmer; cook, stirring occasionally, until berries have burst and softened, about 10 minutes. Pass through a sieve into a medium bowl, pressing on solids with a wooden spoon to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids.
• Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup water in a bowl. Let soften 5 minutes. Add cranberry mixture; stir until gelatin has dissolved. Refrigerate, in an airtight container, at least 4 hours (or up to 1 week).

HOMEMADE CRANBERRY GINGER SAUCE

Steps:

• Stir orange zest and juice, honey, crystallized ginger, cinnamon stick, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a simmer. Stir cranberries into orange juice mixture, cover, and bring to a boil; let boil for 1 minute. Reduce heat to low. Simmer cranberry sauce until cranberries have popped, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and discard cinnamon stick. If a sweeter sauce is desired, stir in more honey. Serve warm or chilled.

HOLIDAY CRANBERRY JELLY

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, combine cranberry juice and sugar. Bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in pectin. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly., Remove from the heat; skim off foam. Carefully ladle hot liquid into hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4-in. headspace. Remove air bubbles; wipe rims and adjust lids. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

CRANBERRY-GINGER LINZER TORTE COOKIES

Steps:

• Combine cranberries, sugar, orange zest, orange juice, water, ginger, and salt for filling in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Lower heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until cranberries burst. Continue cooking, mashing fruit a bit with the back of a spoon, until thick as jam, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat to cool completely. Can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.
• Sift flour, ginger, cinnamon, and salt for cookies together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
• Mix butter and white sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until just combined. Add the vanilla. Gradually add in flour mixture on low speed just until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a piece of plastic wrap and flatten into a disk. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
• Roll the dough ¼-inch thick and cut into 2-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter. With 1/2 of the rounds, cut a hole from the middle of each round into a desired shape. Place all cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill for 15 minutes.
• While cookies chill, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake in the preheated oven until the edges just begin to brown or the cookies are crisp, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven; let cookies cool for 1 minute on the pan, then remove to a wire rack and allow to cool completely, 15 to 20 minutes.
• When the cookies have cooled, place 1 teaspoon of filling on the flat side of each whole cookie, spreading it out to the edges with the back of the spoon. Dust the top of the cut-out cookies with confectioners' sugar. Place the sugared tops on the filled bottoms.

FRESH GINGER CRANBERRY RELISH

Steps:

• Cut unpeeled orange and lemon into wedges; remove any seeds. Transfer orange and lemon to a food processor; add remaining ingredients. Pulse until chopped. Transfer to a bowl; refrigerate, covered, overnight.

CHEWY CRANBERRY GINGERS

Steps:

• Combine everything except cranberry sauce. Blend well.
• Stir in cranberries, mixing thoroughly.
• Chill dough at least one hour.
• Shape into balls. Coat with additional sugar. Put on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake at 375 for 12-15 min; watch them because time will depend on the size. Recipe calls for a "rounded teaspoon". I usually make my cookies bigger than that.
• When done, remove from cookie sheet immediately.

CRANBERRY-GINGER RELISH

Steps:

• With a zester or a grater, remove the zest from the grapefruit and the tangerine; set aside.
• Peel the 2 fruits and cut into segments, removing all pith, seeds and membranes.
• Transfer to a food processor and swirl around until finely chopped; place in a large bowl.
• Add the cranberries (no need to thaw if frozen) and ginger to food processor and pulse until chopped; be careful not to overprocess.
• Add cranberry-ginger mixture to citrus fruit in bowl and stir in sugar, lime juice and zest; stir until sugar is dissolved.
• Taste and add more sugar if you feel it's necessary.
• Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to let flavours blend; keeps well for about 2 weeks.
• Makes just over 2 cups.