Homemade Cranberry Sauce in the Microwave

Do you have any idea how easy it is to make homemade cranberry sauce?

After searching around for recipes, and seeing they were all essentially the same, we proceeded on our own. It turns out to be a simple enough process for a child, with a bit of help, to make.

Just pour a 12 ounce package of fresh, or frozen, cranberries into a nice big bowl. We used a 4 quart mixing bowl.

Add 1 and 1/2 cups of white sugar...


...and 1/2 cup of orange juice, or water. The Internet consensus seems to be orange juice, because it brings out the flavor of the berries.

Stir, to dissolve the sugar.

Cover with wax paper (or something better, like a microwave safe plate).


Microwave, on high, for 5 minutes.



Stir.

Microwave on high for 7 minutes, or until the berries pop.

Make sure your bowl is well covered, or your microwave will look like this...

For whole berry, cranberry sauce, allow what you have to cool, and then refrigerate, until set. Or, for jelly, strain the liquid off into a separate bowl...

...and cool until set. This is the part you will probably have to help your child with, as the sauce is very hot, and sticky. It sets up quickly (in an hour, or two), once it's in the refrigerator, and is sooooo much better than the canned stuff (which generally I enjoy).

Don't throw away the strained out berries. They make for excellent cranberry bread.


We made another loaf using the recipe from Harry and Wende Devlin's Cranberry Thanksgiving, just omitting the raisins, and using our sauce berries, for the cranberries, with very good results.

It's great to be a homeschooler.