Classic Chunky Cranberry Sauce

Chunky cranberry sauce lovers, this one’s for you: with a thick and chunky texture and the perfect balance of tart and sweet (well, I think it’s perfect, but the beauty of this recipe is you can customize it to your personal tastes!) This tried-and-true recipe requires only a few ingredients, minimal prep, and under 15 minutes of time from start to finish!

Make this classic recipe your go-to cranberry sauce, and use it as a foundation for your own inspired creation—a choose-your-own-adventure cranberry sauce if you will. The only limit is your imagination!

Homemade cranberry sauce is one of my favorite parts of the holidays. The intense tartness is the perfect contrast to the rich, fatty flavors and textures on the rest of your plate. I like to get a bit of cranberry sauce with each and every bite.

Another thing I love about cranberries are their versatility: there are so many complementary flavors that go with this unique fruit, from savory winter spices to sweet summer berries, zesty citrus to spicy peppers and sultry liqueurs (just take a walk down the cranberry juice aisle in your local market and it will be obvious that cranberry goes with just about anything).

That means that I can make a different kind of cranberry sauce every year and never get bored.

But still, there’s something to be said for the classic, with the perfect balance of sweetness, and a hint of lemon to compliment the natural tannins in the cranberries.

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The question is: are you team chunky-homemade cranberry sauce or team jellied-from-the-can? Chances are your Thanksgiving table is probably split right down the middle, with both sides staunchly arguing for their candidate of choice. Such a heated debate has ruined many a Thanksgiving.

While this recipe is intended for the chunk-ocrats among us, if you happen to identify with the jelly-can party (or have dinner guests who do), don’t worry, I have a recipe for that too which you can find in my book, That’s My Jam. It’s a recipe that will please the canned-cran lovers but still bring that homemade touch to the table. Might I suggest making a batch of both?

If you’d rather not make two batches of sauce, you can follow this recipe but run the mostly-cooked cranberries through a food mill for a smoother, saucier texture (not quite jellied—it needs more pectin for that—but it might be the perfect compromise!) Return to the stovetop and cook a few minutes longer to thicken. You’ll end up with a batch of beautifully saucy, spoonable deliciousness that should please just about everyone!

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Flourless Almond Cake

This naturally gluten-free almond cake is made with little more than almond flour, eggs, sugar and butter, with a splash of Grand Marnier to finish it off (though you can swap in amaretto liqueur or simply vanilla extract if you wish).

The texture of this cake is nothing short of magical, somehow light and substantial at the same time, with a velvety, melt-in-your-mouth crumb that’s soft, tender and ridiculously moist. You’ve simply got to try it for yourself!

Y’all love my flourless pistachio cake, so much so that it’s been one of the top posts (if not THE top post) on the blog every month since it was published.

I wanted to offer a more casual alternative, using more easy-to-come-by (not to mention more affordable) almond flour in place of the pistachio flour. And while the color isn’t quite as distinctive, this almond-ized version is no less delightful than the original.

The magical combination of nut flour, eggs, sugar and butter somehow transforms into a velvety soft texture that almost melts in your mouth. Like fluffy marzipan (if there were such a thing) with a uniform crumb reminiscent of pound cake around the edges, but more like a gooey butter cake or pound cake saturated with liquid marzipan in the middle.

It’s a tighter, coarser crumb than many cakes, but still lusciously soft. Whereas many yellow cakes ‘bounce’, this one ‘gives’, if that helps you imagine the eating experience… trust me, it’s truly a delight to devour and the texture is one of the reasons why.

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Pumpkin Pecan Coffee Cake

This fabulous fall coffee cake will satisfy your seasonal cravings, with a tender, moist crumb packed with pumpkin flavor and fragrant fall spices, with crunchy pecans and a crispy cinnamon sugar crust on top.

The wonderfully moist texture comes from the butter and sour cream base (sour cream being the key to the most tender, decadent coffee cakes ever, thank my Grandma for that secret ingredient!) with a crispy sugar crust on top and a cinnamon sugar swirl in the middle for extra cinnamon flavor!

This recipe is based on my grandma’s sour cream coffee cake recipe, which is, quite simply, the most perfect coffee cake ever. So despite being a chronic recipe tinkerer, I’ve felt no need to reinvent the wheel by changing it, rather simply adapting the same butter-and-sour-cream base to whatever flavor profile happens to be on my mind at the time (so far I’ve done blueberry cream cheese, chocolate chip, honeycrisp apple, and espresso, and also a version with Greek yogurt, and one that’s muffin-sized!)

In the case of this particular autumnal variation, I added pumpkin puree and fragrant fall spices for the perfect seasonal coffee cake to satisfy any pumpkin spice fanatic.

Why is this recipe so perfect? Well, the sour cream is the key to getting a super moist, tender crumb that’s not dry, dense, or oily. Paired with a creamed butter base (again, most coffee cakes use oil), the result is flavorful and moist and also surprisingly light and fluffy, with the perfect balance of sweetness, pumpkin flavor, and comforting spices.

Not to mention your kitchen will smell absolutely divine, like crisp leaves and cozy sweaters and a warm, pumpkin-spiced hug has enveloped your entire house (even if it still happens to be 82 degrees outside).

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Homemade Raspberry Pectin Gummies (no Gelatin!)

These delightfully chewy raspberry gummies are made with real fruit and set with pectin (indeed, there’s no gelatin required for this recipe, meaning they are vegetarian and even vegan-friendly)!

While it does require time and precision, making your own gummy candies is incredibly satisfying and well worth the effort, resulting in perfectly sweet, chewy fruit gummies bursting with bright raspberry flavor.

Before we get started let me clarify that these are perfectly innocent gummies, not those kinds of gummies, and I cannot and will not advise as to how to adapt this recipe to be those kinds of gummies. Just so we’re clear up front. All good?

Moving on.

The raspberry flavor is on point. Many gummy recipes are basically water, sugar and pectin with concentrated flavorings mixed in at the end.

Not this recipe, which is made using real fruit in the form of pureed fresh raspberries (strained, because, let’s face it, seeds would mar the perfection that is the chewy gummy texture). Frozen berries will work here too, with a few caveats (see the notes at the bottom of this post for more on that).

Pectin-based gummies, while they do take more time and precision to make than gelatin-based recipes, present flavors more cleanly and produce a vegetarian-friendly candy with a lovely jammy chew. Think of the texture like a really thick jam, as that is essentially what it is (compared to gelatin gummies which are more stretchy/rubbery). It’s like the difference between a gumdrop and a gummy bear.

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Peanut Butter & Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Your favorite peanut butter and jelly sandwich meets thumbprint cookie: a soft and buttery cookie packed with peanut butter flavor and filled with a bright and fruity strawberry jam.

These bite-sized peanut butter thumbprint cookies are filled with a dollop of bright strawberry jam (but you can use whatever kind of jam you have on hand, or even opt for a chocolate or caramel filling, yum!) The peanut butter-packed dough comes together in minutes and can be baked right away—no chilling required!

If you’re anything like me, you have a pantry full of homemade jam, and have also realized that, aside from the occasional charcuterie board or peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you really don’t consume all that much jam (guilty as charged… I like making it—and giving it away—more than I like eating it).

That’s why I’m all about creative recipes using jam, or jams in action if you will. From desserts like these jam-filled thumbprints, to savory dishes like marmalade-roasted chicken and jammy baked brie puffs, if you’ve got a partial jar of jam that needs to be used, I’ve got you covered!

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Blueberry Banana Bread

Banana bread meets blueberry muffin in this fabulously fruity morning mashup that’s quick and easy (there’s a reason they’re called quick breads after all, no electric mixer required!)

This moist, tender, and flavorful banana bread is studded with fresh blueberries (but frozen works too!) and drizzled with a vibrant blueberry glaze for a fruity twist on a morning staple.

Last year’s strawberry banana bread was downright delightful, so I figured, why not do a blueberry version?

Not only is it less work than the strawberry version, but since blueberries have a lower water content and are more ‘contained’ in their own little skins, the whole macerate/syrup step isn’t needed, just a quick toss with some flour then fold the berries straight into the banana bread batter.

At this point, I’ve got banana bread recipes for every season: strawberry for spring, blueberry for summer, pumpkin banana bread for fall, and for winter might I suggest my double chocolate banana bread or even black sesame swirl banana bread (trust me it’s lovely!)

I’ve also got recipes for banana bread muffins if that’s more your style (and know that any banana bread recipe, including this one, can easily be made in muffin form! For reference 1 standard sized loaf is equal to about 12 muffins.)

Question though, how many banana bread recipes is too many? 🤔 Does such a limit even exist?

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Meyer Lemon Curd (Extra Thick!)

This tart and tangy Meyer lemon curd is extra thick (thanks to the extra thickening power of cornstarch), with a smooth and creamy mouthfeel and a perfect balance of tart and sweet.

There are few things more satisfying than a classic lemon curd. Whether you use it as cake filling, ice cream flavoring, or morning yogurt enhancer, this bright lemon curd is as easy to prepare as it is delicious, no double boiler needed! The addition of cornstarch ensures it’ll set up perfectly thick every time.

Lemon curd is absolutely lovely on its own eaten by the spoonful (no judgement here!) but also makes for a divine component of myriad other desserts, from cake to cupcakes to ice cream and more (scroll to the bottom of this post for more ideas!)

My favorite lemon curd is made with Meyer lemons for a bright and tangy flavor that’s sweeter and more complex than typical lemon curd, with notes of vanilla, mandarin and orange blossom. I may be biased, but I think Meyer lemons are far superior to regular lemons in almost all cases.

Extracting as much flavor as possible from the whole lemons means using both the zest and the juice, the zest is massaged into the granulated sugar which draws out the flavorful oils from the peels. This, even more than the juice, is what gives this lemon curd its ultra bright flavor.

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