25 Days of Christmas - Day 6: Cheers to Cranberries

Day Six: Sparkling, Sugared Cranberries

The Bluebird Girls LOVE cranberries!  Not only are they delicious, but they look great in votives and strung on garlands.  Sugared, sparkling cranberries are an effortless way to make any dessert look more festive, but we also love them as a way to garnish our cocktails!  We repeatedly buy Kroger out of their Canada Dry Cranberry Ginger Ale since they only sell it this time of year.  Ahhh...a bunch of ice, cranberry ginger ale, a little vodka, mint leaves, and a few sugared cranberries... We'll cheers to that!

Sugared cranberries really are SO easy to make!  This is what we do...  

1. Boil one cup of water with one cup of sugar to make a simple syrup.  

2. Let the syrup cool for about 20 minutes so it doesn't harm the cranberries.  

3. After about 15 minutes, slowly mix in two cups of fresh cranberries, being sure to coat them well.

4. Lay the coated cranberries on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with sugar.  

5. Roll them around a bit, and repeat step four a few times to get them looking (and tasting) perfectly sugar coated!  

6.  Allow them to dry overnight, and enjoy!

Last year, for Christmas Eve, we had this cake.  It was both beautiful and festive, but the best part is that it was equally delicious!  We cannot take credit for the recipe, but we felt that it was definitely worth sharing!  They use a different recipe for the cranberries than we do, so feel free take your pick! Place it on a simple white cake stand, add sprig of evergreen (maybe cut off of your Kroger tree?), and graciously accept the compliments that are sure to come your way.

And don't forget your cocktail!  Cheers!