I have made an abundance of blackberry recipes this year. As a friend (thank you CL) was moving out of state, she handed me over twenty pounds of frozen blackberries she had hand picked. I was committed to not letting any go to waste, and I began creating blackberry recipes. I thought I used them all up and surprisingly found one last bag this week.
Although I’m sort of a traditional Thanksgiving cook, I thought why not add them to cranberries and make a new kind of sauce? The result was even more surprising. Rich in color, and fragrant in fall flavors, I had a delightful new recipe that might just become a new tradition.
The Process
I boiled the frozen berries down, threw in sugar, cranberries, almond extract, triple sec, a cinnamon stick, juice and zest of an orange. The flavors are fun and complex, and the deep color is captivating. The nice surprise is that I had too much liquid and was able to extract over a cup of syrup that I can use for other things from savory to sweet, perhaps duck breast, pancakes, ice cream, or goat cheese.
The possibilities of how to use the syrup are endless. It’s sweet but not too sweet and unlike a blueberry syrup, this has winter flavors. I added in a dash of sea salt and a grinding of black pepper to even further punch up the flavors. You can skip that step if it’s a little too daring.
This recipe is more of an idea to be inspired and try new flavors. You could make this recipe with raspberries also. You can change the combination and use 1 cup blackberries or raspberries and 3 cups cranberries. I used equal amounts but you can make this your own.
Here are a few good looking recipes I found elsewhere:
Cran Raspberry Sauce from Joy of Baking
Chipotle Cranberry Sauce from CD Kitchen
Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce from The Gallery Gourmet
- 2 cup frozen blackberries
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon triple sec
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- juice and zest of an orange
- cinnamon stick
- dash salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- Put frozen blackberries in medium sized heavy bottom pan with enough water to cover. Boil down until they are no longer frozen.
- Add in sugar, triple sec, juice of orange, almond extract, zest and cinnamon stick. Boil on cranberries on medium heat for 10-15 minutes or until cranberries pop open. Add salt and pepper and turn off stove.
- Remove and reserve liquid for a syrup. Cool completely. Refrigerate before serving. Make a day ahead so flavors come together and sauce sets.
Deliciously fruity! What a wonderful berry combination.
Cheers,
Rosa
LOVE that you added blackberries to the cranberry sauce. What a gorgeous color! And so great that it made extra liquid. I love the versatility of that. But right now…pancakes come to mind! : )
I am totally crazy for cranberries and try to make something new and unexpected each year. I don’t have any blackberries right now but I wish I did; I would do this in a heartbeat.
What a lovely idea to add the blackberry flavor. This one is definitely on my list for the future.
when did you put the cranberries in? it just says ” until cranberries pop open”!