Maple-Cider Cranberry Sauce

It was hard to mask my disappointment when I didn’t spot cranberry sauce among the spread of dishes at my first Thanksgiving in New Jersey with my husband’s family. As someone who grew up in Massachusetts—the home of Ocean Spray and idyllic images of cranberry bogs—the sweet-tart side dish is as essential to me as stuffing and mashed potatoes.

I remedied the situation at my in-laws the following year by making my own cranberry sauce for the table. While I admit I grew up with the canned stuff (one each of the jellied sauce and the whole berry variety because my sister and I couldn’t agree), I learned as a curious teenager how easy it is to make it from scratch from the back of a bag of fresh cranberries.

At its most basic form, all that’s required to make a great cranberry sauce are cranberries, sugar, and water. Where the fun lies is in how adaptable the recipe is. Toss an orange peel or whole spices into the mixture while it simmers, swap the water for fruit juice, add dried fruit, or stir in a splash of bourbon if you’re feeling flashy. My favorite iteration over the years, however, stays true to my roots. This Maple-Cider Cranberry Sauce celebrates key New England flavors: cranberries, of course, but also maple syrup and apple cider. The syrup lends nutty depth to the sauce while allowing you to skip the flavorless granulated sugar. Apple cider provides its own natural sweetness and its tart bite works in tandem with the berries to keep the beautiful balance of this sauce in check so that it remains the ultimate (at least from this New Englander’s standpoint) complement to the Thanksgiving turkey. One tip: If using frozen cranberries, there’s no need to defrost. You can use them directly from the freezer.