18 November 2005

Dear Friends,

For Thanksgiving this year, I decided to experiment with cranberry sauce. I tried all the sweeteners and many of them worked just fine, so everyone who wants to can have cranberries...without refined white sugar or artificial sweeteners.

I also just last week discovered a really excellent ginger cookie that is light, crisp and buttery. They would be fabulous alongside a bowl of pumpkin custard, or used for crumbs for a pumpkin pie or cheesecake crust. The recipe is on the Sweet Savvy website under Chez Panisse Gingersnaps.

And, I just want to remind you of some other Sweet Savvy recipes that are good for Thanksgiving:
Pumpkin Custard and Pie
Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingerbread Cookie Crust
Pumpkin Nut Crumble
Pecan Pie
Whipped Cream

Now for the cranberry sauce.

Cranberries alone are quite healthy--lots of vitamin C and only 7 carbohydrates for a half-cup. But the recipes call for 1 cup sugar for every 2 cups cranberries, which is a lot. I found with the natural sweeteners I could use 1/4 cup sweetener to every 2 cups cranberries and it was plenty sweet. But you can always use more or less sweetener to taste.

I made cooked whole-berry cranberry sauce and a raw cranberry relish and tested ten natural sweeteners. I'll give you the basic recipes first, then the results of my taste test and, finally, some tips on how to make your cranberry sauce unique and extra special.

COOKED WHOLE-BERRY CRANBERRY SAUCE

3 cups fresh cranberries (1 standard 12-ounce package)
1 1/2 cups boiling water
3/8 cup sweetener (except stevia)

1. Wash and pick over the cranberries. Discard stems and soft berries.
2. Place the cranberries in a saucepan.
3. Cover with boiling water and turn the stove on to high heat.
4. When the water begins to boil, continue to boil for a few minutes until all the berries have burst open.
5. Turn off heat and stir with a wooden spoon, mashing some of the berries against the side of the pot until most of the berries are broken. It will be like a thin applesauce.
6. Add sweetener to warm cranberries and stir to dissolve. If you have trouble dissolving the sweetener, reheat to boiling, stirring constantly.
7. Allow sauce to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until cool. Sauce will set up as it cools.

FRESH RAW CRANBERRY RELISH

3 cups fresh cranberries (1 standard 12-ounce package)
3/8 cup sweetener (except stevia)

1. Wash and pick over the cranberries. Discard stems and soft berries.
2. Chop cranberries in a blender or food processor. Do not puree.
3. Add sweetener and any other ingredients and mix well.
4. Cover and chill in the refrigerator overnight to allow juices to blend with the sweetener and flavors to blend.

THE SWEETENERS

I tried ten sweeteners in both the cooked sauce and the raw relish. I've listed them here alphabetically, as I know each of you will be choosing different sweeteners for different reasons. I love doing these tests, because they really show that the flavors and characteristics of the different sweeteners are really suited for different purposes. Some of the flavors of the sweeteners just really didn't go with cranberries at all!

All the sweeteners blended well with the cranberries after they were left to sit for a few hours.

• agave nectar: Very good - a personal favorite.
• barley malt syrup: Flavor of barley malt is overpowering - not recommended.
• brown rice syrup: Flavor does not go well with cranberries - not recommended.
• date sugar: Very good.
• evaporated cane juice: Very good.
• fruit spreads (fruit juice sweetened): This was very very good! I used marmalade and it added both sweetness and a nice orange flavor. I would also try raspberry or strawberry.
• honey: Very good, though results will vary depending on the type of honey used. I suggest a light honey such as wildflower, tupelo, or especially orange blossom.
• maple syrup: Another personal favorite. Since both cranberries and maple syrup grow in the Northeast, I'm not surprised they go together so well.
• stevia: This is workable, but not my first choice. Add to taste a small amount at a time.
• vegetable glycerin: This is my first choice. The liquid consistency blends well with both cooked and raw, zero carbs, and it adds sweetness with no flavor of it's own.
• xylitol: This one tastes most like white sugar. It's a good use for xylitol, which has a bit of a minty taste that is completely masked by the taste of the cranberries.

ADDITIONS

My cranberry sauce ends up being different every year because there are so many good things that go so well with cranberries!

Spices

Try adding cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, or allspice. These can be added during or after cooking.

Fruits

Add to cooked sauce during or after cooking, and to raw relish. These fruit go exceptionally well with cranberries: orange (fruit, juice and zest), tangerines, apples, raspberries, pears, stawberries, cherries, raisins.

Nuts

Add chopped, toasted nuts at the end. Walnuts and pecans are the most popular.

Liquor

This can be added as a flavoring at the end, or used in cooking. My personal favorite is to use ruby port for half of the cooking water. A bit of Grand Mariner gives a nice orange flavor, and brandy is good, too.

SWEET SAVVY ~ NATURAL SWEETENER RECIPES is a weekly sampling of scrumptious sweets from Debra Lynn Dadd.

All recipes are made only with natural sweeteners ~ no refined white sugar or artificial sweeteners. All ingredients mentioned can be purchased at natural food stores. more...

The intention of this newsletter is to introduce readers to natural sweeteners of all kinds. The only intent is to show how natural sweeteners can be used to make a variety of favorite sweets. If there are ingredients in these recipes you choose not to eat, please make the appropriate substitutions.

If you have a recipe you would like to share, or you have a special request for a recipe, please send an e-mail to: debra@dld123.com with the word "recipe" in the subject line.

(c) copyright 2005 Debra Lynn Dadd. All Rights Reserved

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