Super Jellied Cranberry Sauce a.k.a. Essential Holiday Palate Cleanser

I wanted to call this an entremets in the most basic French sense of the term (i.e., something served between meals) but pastry fans might be disappointed that there is no génoise, or really any sort of layer, in here. Or by the fact that I, rather than Nate, am behind this picture:

I have been making some version of this for the past five years. I am fairly certain it originally evolved from Tyler Florence's cranberry-orange sauce. I quickly learned that as pectin-rich as cranberries are, a sugar-free sauce will not set without the help of gelatin or agar agar*. While there is nothing remarkable about this recipe, I am posting it here because every year when cheap cranberries begin gracing the shelves of our grocery store, I cannot remember much gelatin or sweetener to use so there are a few failed first attempts. Also, you may find, like us, that a chunk of gelatinous tart fruit is just what you need to survive the indulgent foods, post-indulgence restriction (i.e., when you've reconditioned yourself to expect dessert after a meal, but it's time to reign that shit in), or scarcity of inexpensive fresh fruit choices of the season. Finally, it is further evidence that I do not only make ice cream.

Here's a view of the inside texture. For added realism, you can see an indentation where I extracted the cinnamon stick. As almost always, it was nowhere to be found when I went to pour the warm jelly into the mold.

Super Jellied Cranberry Sauce a.k.a. Essential Holiday Palate Cleanser

Total volume: approx. 6 cups / fills a 1 lb (9 x 4.5") loaf pan almost up to the edge

Servings: 8 (as in picture)

Nutrition (per serving): 68 calories, 0 fat, 10.8carb (4g fiber, 3.7g sugars), 4.9g protein 24 oz cranberries, fresh or frozen (no need to thaw)

juice (1 to 1.5 oz) and zest of 1 orange

24 oz water minus juice of the orange, divided

1 c Splenda or equivalent sweeter of choice

40 g (4 tablespoons) beef gelatin

1" chunk of ginger (optional)

1/2 stick of cinnamon (optional)

Zest the orange and juice it into a large measuring cup. Add water to obtain 24 ounces of liquid. Pour approximately 2 cups of this into a medium saucepan and add the sweetener, stir. Add the cranberries, orange zest plus the ginger and cinnamon stick, if using. Cover and bring to a boil. Uncover and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until all cranberries are softened.

While the cranberries are being heated up, bloom the gelatin in the reserved liquid.

Once the cranberries are cooked, fish out the ginger and cinnamon stick, or try to do so because by now they're all red and stealthily concealed. Smush the cranberries with the back of the spoon until desired consistency is achieved** and mix in the bloomed gelatin while the sauce is still hot. Pour into a mold of your choice (maybe some rinsed cans for an authentic look?), cool to room temperature, and chill overnight.

Serve after way too much protein and starch, or after a perfectly respectable healthy meal that now feels sad after all the holiday foods you've eaten. Either way, it'll cure what ails you.

Note: This is a stiff, tart jelly. If you are trying to more closely approximate the canned stuff or your grandma's recipe, you'll want to substantially increase the sweetener (suggested: 1.5 cups) and slightly reduce the gelatin (3 to 3.5 tablespoons). To emulate my results with Knox gelatin or some other stronger swine product, you'll likely want to stick to 3 tablespoons.

* Vegans: I've been on-and-off fine-tuning the amount of agar-agar needed to get the optimal consistency but I haven't been particularly happy with my attempts so far. Last attempt used 1 tablespoon for half a recipe; this wasn't firm enough to slice and serve.

** I do not condone the straining of cranberry sauce. Eat your fiber, people! I suppose you could puree the heck out of this, though. Report back if you do.

#sweet #portioncontrol #sides