How to make sugared cranberries (easy recipe)

If there is any fruit that signals the holiday season it is without a doubt cranberries. These beautiful bright red berries are perfect for making things like cranberry sauce or cranberry compote, but did you know you can also turn them into sugared cranberries? Making sugared cranberries turns them into a very tasty and sweet snack. The sugar bath gives them a crunchy exterior and a sweet, soft interior.

Sugared cranberries

As well as being delicious, sugar-coated cranberries are ideal for adding a festive touch to your baking. Sprinkle them on a cheesecake, for example, and you have a great cake to put on the table at Christmas. But there are so many different things you can do with sugared cranberries as they do make for a beautiful garnish. Pop them into holiday cocktails for instance or add some sparkling cranberries to a festive cake. They also look good in just about all holiday desserts.

For making these easy sugared cranberries you really need just two ingredients (three if you count the water): A bag of fresh cranberries and granulated sugar. And that’s all there is to it.

Making the cranberries with sugar coating

Now the first thing you do is make a simple sugar syrup. You add 150 grams (5.3 oz) of the sugar to a little less than a cup of water and put in a medium saucepan. Bring this to the boil. Let it simmer on low heat until sugar dissolves. Now place the (washed) cranberries in a small bowl (or at least a bowl that will fit the cranberries plus the sugar water) and pour the hot syrup over the cranberries.

Let this stand for about three hours and occasionally give it a quick stir.

Drying and dusting

After three hours the cranberries will be sweet and sticky and it is time to move onto the next step. For this you remove the cranberries from the syrup. You can either do this with a slotted spoon or – as I like to do – use a sieve for straining the syrup away from the cranberries.

Now have a bowl of sugar ready and pass the cranberries through the sugar in stages. Depending on how big your batch of cranberries is of course. Once they are coated in sugar you need to let the sugared cranberries dry. This is best done in a single layer on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

Let them dry completely at room temperature and once they are dried they are ready to use!

What can I use the cranberries for?

Now once you’ve made the candied cranberries there is no limit to what you can do with them. I’ll give you some suggestions for things I like to do with them.

I already mentioned adding them to a cranberry cake or a cheesecake but they are really an easy way to decorate holiday drinks or charcuterie boards or cheese boards. Edible decorations that is.

Some other ideas on what to do with them:

• Turn them into an edible gift – one of my favorite ways to make gifts around the holidays is edible goodies and these cranberries are perfect for that.
• cake decorations, Christmas pavlova, cupcakes – the list is endless
• breakfast – they do really well on top of pancakes or in your yogurt.
• bruschetta – add them to a bruschetta with a layer of soft goat cheese. So good!
• Salads – they also look great in your favorite salad

This is really one of my favorite holiday recipes as it is so easy to make.