Christmas Cranberries

By Susan/Miranda

Continuing in our spirit of holiday blogs for the month, I’m offering a copy of my new Christmas anthology, Christmas Wedding Belles, to a randomly selected reader.  Yes, my story in this anthology is a Miranda Jarrett historical romance, but be not frightened, ye historical fiction readers of Susan Holloway Scott: the hero and heroine may be invented, but the secondary lovers in this story are the very real Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton, so post away!  A winner will be chosen and announced here later this week.

As all we Wenches reminisce about our favorite nostalgic holiday food, I have to offer the all-American Cranberry.  Now despite the unending bounty at the local grocery, I’m a firm believer in eating foods in season: strawberries in late May, peaches in August, apples in autumn.  And, of course, cranberries for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Cranberries aren’t easy to love, of course, not in the way that other berries are.  They’re a gorgeous red, but raw, they’re hard as pebbles and so tart that they require twice their weight in sugar to make them palatable.  I’ve always imagined those first settlers in Massachusetts discovering them with delight, only to pucker up with dismay at first bite. 

I suspect that it’s my old Yankee blood that makes them so appealing to me (some weird race-memory at work), or perhaps it’s pleasant memories from late-summer vacations on Cape Cod, when the bogs are being flooded for harvest and the red berries are floated to the service like thousands of cheerful, bobbing red marbles.  I know we’re supposed to be talking holly-berries in December, but the larger, rosy-pink cranberries look much more festive to me.  Heck, I even invented a fictions cranberry-licious location for one of my earlier books, Cranberry Point.

For history-nerds like us Wenches, cranberries carry a wealth of lore.  Yes, they were another food introduced by Native Americans (who mixed them with dried venison and pemmican for a long-lasting food to carry with them on hunting trips) to the Pilgrims, which explains their presence next to Thanksgiving turkeys. Likely the 17th century English settlers were already familiar with the close cousins to cranberries native to Britain: marsh berries, bog berries, and (my favorite name) fen whort.

Soon Massachusetts cranberries were staples not only of Yankee cooking, but of importers, too, sent in sailing ships to the southern colonies and to London, where they were considered a delicacy, much favored for use in sauces, preserves, and pies.  They traveled well, and didn’t spoil easily.  For that reason, they were also carried among the ships’ stores, a good Vitamin-C-laden preventative against scurvy on long voyages.

With the advent of Christmas trees in 19th century American parlors, the long-lasting qualities and bright colors of cranberries made them a ready choice for decorations as well, strung into garlands.  If you’d like to try this yourself, here’s a link to directions for a Cranberry Garland with Popcorn, suitable for an outdoor Christmas tree for wild birds as well the indoor variety.

Now cranberries can be found year-round, in many forms from granola bars to cocktails. But for me, they’re a holiday fruit, and with that in mind, I’m sharing a tasty cookie recipe.  The cranberries make them look Christmas-y, so they’ll pass as Christmas cookies at the neighborhood cookies-swap, but they taste better than many of the flashier holiday cookies.  And because they include cranberries and oatmeal, you can pretend they’re “health” cookies.  Hang the butter and white chocolate: these are actually GOOD for you!

One other recommendation: I took a box of these cookies to my agent’s office last fall, where they were devoured instantly by the staff.  Gratifying to know that I’ve done my part to keep literary agents in New York safe from scurvy.

White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

2/3 cup Unsalted Butter, softened
2/3 cup Brown Sugar
2  Large Eggs
1 1/2 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Bag of Sweetened Dried Cranberries (6 oz.) (aka Craisins)
2/3 cup White Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using an electric mixer cream butter and brown sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in sweetened dried cranberries, chocolate chips and walnuts.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes approximately 3 1/2 dozen cookies

I’ll make it easy to win a book, a simple yay or nay for cranberries.  Do you like them –– in relish, juice, or a shimmering cylinder of jelly, complete with the ribs of the can pressed into the sides –– or do you wish they’d stayed in the bogs?  And I’ll also offer you all the happiest of holiday wishes, and the most joyful of book-filled new years!
 

Comments

[bluecat]

Here's a simple yay for cranberries. I love cranberry juice, and any other cran-whatever juice. Yay Ocean Spray!

[Jane]

Yay to cranberry juice. Nay for everything else cranberry.

[Maggie Robinson]

Yum for the cookies. Love cranberry juice, although I confess vodka might also have something to do with it. My husband makes a great cranberry-orange relish at Thanksgiving. Any leftovers go into muffins. Our supermarket sells a pretty decent cranberry-orange muffin year-round. I also put craisins in a sliced chicken-fruit-nut-cheese with raspberry vinaigrette salad we eat a couple of times a year.

[Kathy Kremer]

I found I can use cranberries in my holiday pumpkin bread instead of raisins. They are yummy and not as sweet as the raisins. Whole berry cranberry sauce is required to be on the table for Thanksgiving and it's so easy to make. Adding something like orange juice and walnuts or pecans makes it even yummier. If reqested I'll post some receipes later in the day, as I have a check up in about 30 minutes.

[kay]

Love cranberries. Every year, my daughter and I make Christmas cookies/candies/bread. This year we took a day off of work to do it. Next year we will take the day after off also. Anyway, we made some white chocolate bark with cranberries and some tiny tasty breads with cranberries and pistachio nuts in it. We always try to have at least one recipe with cranberries. I also have a recipe with cranberries and phillo dough...yum.

[kay]

thats phyllo

[Anne]

I love cranberry-orange anything and esp. love the white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies. Yum! :)

[MaryK]

Yay, for cranberries. My mom makes a jello fruit salad with chopped fresh cranberries that is very good. You're right though, it is very tart. I've never had cranberries any other way except the canned jelly which I can't stand. Those cookies sound really good. I'll have to add some things to my Christmas ingredients list.

[Elaine McCarthy]

I looooove the cranberry jelly with the can-ridges showing! I even put it in my Thanksgiving-leftovers soup (at the table, as a relish). I also put a slice of leftover stuffing it. It's like having Thanksgiving dinner in a bowl!

[LizA]

I did not know Cranberries until I went to live in the US a few years ago. I instantly fell in love with the dried variety and used to eat them as snacks while working....now whenever someone goes off to America, I make them buy me some bags of cranberries....
Here in Austria, we have little berries called "Preiselbeeren" which are related to cranberries, but they are smaller and taste differently. We mostly eat the preserve, with meat dishes, or with the traditional St. Martin's goose in November. No thanksgiving for us, alas!

[margaret]

Cranberries--yesssssssss!! Craisins--yummmmmmmmmmm!!

Susan, do you think Quick Oats would work in the cookie recipe or do they need to be the original kind?

[Bonnie]

I love cranberries in all forms, especially in raw cranberry/orange relish.

[Maureen]

I am not a cranberry fan but my daughter and husband love them.

[NinaP]

Great post Susan/Miranda. I didn't know fen whort was a cousin to the cranberry.

For me, the only way I'll consider a cranberry is when it has a three pack pressed into its sides.

Nina

[Maggie]

I really like cranberry juice... nothing else!

[Nathalie]

I still remember the first time I tasted cranberry... I almost choked!!

I find it totally hateful ;(

[Lily]

I have a love/hate relationship... I like cranberry pie, cranberry juice if mixed with orange... but I find the fruit bitter.

[Lois]

Nay, nay, nay. . . I skip the cranberries, thank you lots! LOL :) But I always go for extra potatoes and stuffing to make up for it. So I'm happy. :)

Lois

[Melissa]

Cranberry/grape juice, or cranberry juice mixed with Sprite--yay!

Cranberry nut bread at Christmastime--yay!

All other cranberry use--nay. Too tart for my wimpy little palate.

[Janga]

I love cranberry relish and cranberry bread. The cookie recipe sounds delicious.

I love cranberry juice too, but I can remember being righteously indignant in my youth when my bar tab for cranberry juice (as a near teetotaler amid a boozing bunch) was the highest in the crowd. :)

[Kim]

Yum! Those cookies sound good! I like cranberries in muffins, cookies, bread and on a turkey sandwich after Thanksgiving using leftovers. I don't like to eat them alone. They tend to make my mouth pucker and are a bit too much for me. lol

[Sue A.]

I do like cranberries and isn't it great that they're so good for you. They're great to add to baked treats. And I find them gorgeous to look at.

[Susan Scott]

Who would'a thought we'd get so much discussion about cranberries?? And you know, I have to confess: I'm not a fan of the juice. Oh, well....

Now, more about the cookies:
Yes, Margaret, you can use any old oats. With the quick oats, I'd imagine the texture would be a bit smoother, but that would probably be he only difference.

One more thing to recommend this recipe: it only makes about 3 dozen or so cookies, so it's not a huge investment in time (you all know those cookie recipes, the ones that yield enough cookies to feed your entire neighborhood and take an whole day of running back and forth to the oven every ten minutes.) Also, if you have a Loved One (even Yourself) with no self-restraint when it comes to cookies, this is a goodly amount to have around: enough for Loved One to have a good happy gorge-fest, but not so many that One hates Oneself the next day....*g*

Cheers!
Susan/Miranda

[Crystal B.]

I do like cranberries.

[Pam P]

I like cranberry pie, even mixed with apples. I remember one year when I was a kid when my grandmother had us all gathered round during a snowstorm, stringing cranberries for garland on our tree.

Happy Holidays!

[Gretchen F]

I like everything but the canned jelly that was, for years, my only experience. REALLY great use of cranberries: a Scarlet O'Hara: cranberry juice and Southern Comfort. Y'all be speakin' with a drawl after a couple of those!

[Robin Greene]

I love cranberries! Cranberry Sauce (Jellied and Whole Berry), Cranberry Orange Relish. The occasional dried sugared cranberry. Yum!

[Leslie]

Cranberries are a wonderful tradition during the holidays, whether it be Christmas or Thanksgiving. Cranberry and popcorn garland always make a nice Victorian look, as well as a fun way to have the little ones help with decorations (no worries I always use a blunt instrument to make the garland). Have a safe and happy holiday everyone.

[Maya]

we also have cranberry bogs up here (ontario) that supply fantastic pure cranberry juice concentrate (you dilute it with the liquid of your choice) and bags of flash frozen whole cranberries which i find work MUCH better for baking than the dried kind. you just chop up a handful or two of the still frozen berries (easier to chop and less 'bleeding' of juice than thawed) and toss into your batter. they are also ridiculously easy to turn into your own sauce. off to try your recipe now....

[Teresa W.]

Yay for cranberries, I always look forward to Thanksgiving dinner because of them.

[John Stevens]

I've always kinda liked cranberries. My Dad used to make a great cranberry dish, sort of a sweet relish with cranberries instead of pickles, for Thanksgiving and Christmas. He hasn't made for the last couple of years but if he and Mom are back home for the Holidays next year - "home" being my brother's new house in Maine - he probably will.

But my favorite way to eat cranberries is mixed with blueberries in "Sweet 'n Tart Muffins", they're fantastic.

[Sherrie Holmes]

I never met a cranberry I didn't like! Your cookie recipe sounds fabulous, Susan/Miranda! Another good one to add to my batch of holidays recipes! Thanks to the Wenches and all you commenters, I now have several new recipes to play with.

[ariana]

I love cranberries, but it's harder to find in Taiwan. Mostly, supermarkets only sell craisins. I can't wait to try out your recipe though~~

[c2]

Yay for cranberries! Cranberry juice and craisins, especially. :o) And thanks for the recipe - I'm always looking for new cookies to try.

[Barbara M]

I love cranberries! I don't much care for the canned jelly, though - I prefer a homemade cranberry sauce with half an orange (peel and all) per package of cranberries, and as little sugar as tolerable.

One of my favorite quick breads features cranberries:

2 c. flour (whole wheat pastry flour works fine)
1 c. sugar (I prefer brown)
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 c. butter
1 tsp. grated orange peel
3/4 c. orange juice
1 egg, beaten
1 c. coarsely chopped fresh cranberries
1/2 c. chopped nuts

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and soda. Cut in butter until blended. Combine peel, juice and egg, and mix with dry ingredients. Fold in cranberries and nuts. Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

It's easier to slice if it's left to cool for several hours. It's also impossible to wait that long to eat some!

[KeiraSoleore]

Love that picture of the man in a gigantic pile of cranberries! I like cranberries in many forms, just not the juice--something in it leaves a bitterish after-taste.

I have had that Christmas anthology the first week it was out, since luckily for me, I have know a fabulous bookseller who puts books aside for me from authors I like. Such great stories, each and every one of them--great anthology!!

[Judy D]

I love cranberries at Thanksgiving, but have it anytime of year. I get jellied sauce or buy OS for Chicken to have with a meal. I also enjoy cranberry juice - straight or with another juice. My mom believed in mixing her juices. Never tried it with Sprite - that sounds like a good holiday treat. My sister-in-law made the best relish for Thanksgiving with whole cranberries. It's also good with nuts in it. I usually add both to stuffing. My mom always had a cranberry-orange relish for TG - we used to grind it ourselves, the same as we used to grind bologne. I like the sounds of your book. As many books as I've read, that's a new one for me. I'll have to watch for it.

[Cynthya]

I love cranberries! I don't like the canned sauce, though. I make my own. I love cranberry muffins and cranberry bread, too. Craisins are a great snack. Thank you for the yummy cookie recipe!

Happy Holidays!

[Kathleen Smith]

YES to cranberries. I love cranberries and products made with with them. I do not understand how my son, being my son, cannot like cranberries.

[Amy La Rooy]

In New Zealand cranberries are becoming more and more popular, Cranberry juice being good for lots of things, and cranberry jelly and craisins creaping onto our supermarket shelves, no fresh ones here unfortunatly. But my favourite is white chocolate coated craisins. absoultley delish!!!

[Pamela V]

This is delicious with dinner rolls...
Cranberry Butter
Beat 1 cup butter until fluffy.
Beat in 1/3 cup whole berry cranberry sauce and 2 Tablespoons orange marmalade.

Can be kept covered in fridge for 3 weeks.

[Sue]

Cranberries are wonderful especially with Turkey and Chicken.

[Kristen]

I love cranberries! I drink Cranberry Juice regularly, thoroughly enjoying the tart taste, and I'm only allowed to have Cranberry Sauce during the holidays, when my family has one batch that is strictly for me. I can eat it all in one sitting if they let me.

[Kristen]

I love cranberries! I drink Cranberry Juice regularly, thoroughly enjoying the tart taste, and I'm only allowed to have Cranberry Sauce during the holidays, when my family has one batch that is strictly for me. I can eat it all in one sitting if they let me.

[Cait]

My fav cranberry food is a cranberry-apple crisp that I make all year round.m I buy about a dozen bags in Nov and make it for every occasion from Easter to July 4th and everybody loves it either as a side or with ice cream as dessert.
A couple of years ago I dried some in the oven as purchased dried are so expensive. They're still in the freezer as I forget I have them.
Cait

[Santa]

I LOVE cranberries and crasins. We had a cranberry/pineapple and candied ginger sauce over Thanksgiving. It was divine. I also like mixed drinks with cranberry juice like a Seabreeze or Malibu Bay Breeze. I can't wait to try your cookie recipe.

[jeanne]

I have just discovered cranberries and I'm 57 lol. I would never try it because cranberries and jelly just didn't seem to make sense to me. I recently found the dried ones and I love them - put them in salads and vegetables and baked goods.