What I'm Drinking: Cranberry Ginger Spritzer

Ease into the fall season with this refreshing Cranberry Ginger Spritzer.

I recently had the opportunity to create a recipe for Cape Cod Select Premium Frozen Whole Cranberries. Here are a few cool facts about this brand:

* Cape Cod Select is a small women-owned family business.

* The Rhodes family has been growing cranberries on their 800-acre cranberry farm for more than 75 years and is now in its fourth generation.

* Cape Cod Select cranberries are grown to some of the industry's highest standards and are non-GMO verified and hold GLOBALG.A.P. Certification.

* Cape Cod Select has a focus on sustainability, powering its facilities primarily with solar power and using better growing practices on their farm.

These cranberries are sold nationwide – here's where to buy Cape Cod Select frozen cranberries in a store near you or you can order frozen cranberries from Cape Cod Select directly.

September is right around the corner and that means that the holidays are not far behind. Am I skipping right over PSL season? Quite possibly, but I might circle back. In the meantime, I'm loving this Cranberry Ginger Spritzer, which is a perfect transitional cocktail between the heat of summer and the crisp, cool nights of autumn.

This cocktail gets just the right amount of tart cranberry flavor with the generous incorporation of cranberry simple syrup, which you can easily make from scratch. Grapefruit juice balances the tartness of the cranberry flavor and a little ginger beer adds a zippy topnote. This drink can easily be made as a mocktail by omitting the vodka and adding just a tiny bit more ginger beer. 

Is anyone else as ready for sweater weather as I am?

Cranberry Ginger Spritzer
makes one cocktail

1 ounce cranberry simple syrup (see recipe below)
1/2 ounce fresh grapefruit juice
1 ounce vodka
ginger beer, for topping
whole cranberries, for garnish

1. Add ice to a cocktail shaker or pint glass. Add the cranberry simple syrup, grapefruit juice, and vodka. Stir to combine.
2. Strain into a rocks glass full of ice.
3. Top with ginger beer and garnish with whole cranberries.

Cranberry Simple Syrup
makes about 2 cups

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
8 ounces whole frozen or fresh cranberries

1. Add the sugar, water, and cranberries to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Strain the solids through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Discard the cranberries. Let the simple syrup cool to room temperature, then pour into a container with a tight-fitting lid. Cranberry simple syrup can be kept in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

You can find Cape Cod Select Premium Cranberries on social media here:

Facebook (Cape Cod Select Premium Cranberries)
Instagram (@CapeCodSelect)
Twitter (@CapeCodSelect)
Pinterest (CapeCodSelect)

** I was provided with frozen whole cranberries by Cape Cod Select to create this recipe; the recipe and my opinions are my own. **

What's Baking: Cranberry Orange Pecan Bread

Holiday brunch on your calendar? This flavorful Cranberry Orange Pecan Bread is a real crowd-pleaser.

Cranberries are not just for Thanksgiving. Or adorning Christmas trees. (Popcorn and cranberry garland anyone?) Fresh cranberries also make for a delicious quick bread. But you probably already knew that.

I was at the grocery store the other day and was instantly enamored by a bin of locally-grown organic cranberries. I couldn't help but scoop some into a bag. Perhaps a few too many. But that's why there's always a quick bread recipe up my sleeve!

This recipe features the classic flavor combination of cranberry and orange; a tart and sweet pairing that can't be beat. I added pecans, but you could sub in walnuts if you'd prefer. All of the recipes I looked at were sugar bombs, which really isn't my jam. I decreased the sugar to just a half-cup–which is still quite a bit, I do realize. But when most recipes call for at least a cup, I feel pretty good about the change. And it's still plenty sweet!

This bread would be perfect for a holiday brunch. I also love bringing a freshly-baked loaf of bread to a party as a gift for the host/hostess to enjoy the following morning for breakfast. Wrap it in parchment paper and tie with string, and you've got an easy impromptu present to give to anyone.

Cranberry Orange Pecan Bread (printer-friendly version)
makes 1 large loaf

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup fresh cranberries, roughly chopped
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange zest

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 8"x4" loaf pan and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Stir in the chopped cranberries and chopped pecans.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the orange juice, sugar, buttermilk, melted butter, and egg. Stir in the vanilla and orange zest.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepped loaf pan. Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove the loaf from the pan and let cool completely.

What I'm Drinking: Cranberry Old-Fashioned Cocktail

An old-fashioned cocktail is my favorite Wisconsin supper club drink. I prefer mine served sweet with cherries but I switch back and forth between brandy (the traditional option in Wisconsin) and bourbon as my liquor of choice. One of our favorite places to get an old fashioned in town is at the Beachcomber, which offers maple syrup as one of their sweetener options. Pure maple syrup in my drink? Don't mind if I do. 

This cranberry old fashioned puts a slight holiday twist on the original by muddling cranberries with an orange slice rather than the traditional cherries. Inspired by the Beachcomber, the typical sugar cube is replaced by maple syrup to give the cocktail some smokiness and complexity.

Cranberry Old-Fashioned Cocktail
makes one cocktail

1 orange round, peel and pith removed
6 whole cranberries
1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
2 ounces bourbon (or brandy)
couple dashes bitters
club soda

1. Add the orange round and whole cranberries to the bottom of a rocks glass and top with maple syrup. Muddle the orange, cranberries, and maple syrup. Add the bourbon and a couple dashes of bitters and stir to combine.
2. Add ice, top with club soda, and serve.

What's On the Side: Cranberry-Orange Sauce

I have to admit that one of my favorite parts of the Thanksgiving dinner back in the day was opening the can of cranberry sauce and hearing the satisfying "splort" as it slid out of the can onto the serving dish. These days I like to make my cranberry sauce from scratch, leaving me with a splort-free Thanksgiving. However, the taste of freshly-made cranberry sauce is about a million times better than the canned stuff, so I think it's all for the best. On a recent edition of the Alton Brown podcast, Alton described his recipe for homemade cranberry sauce, and I liked that he used honey as the sweetener rather than granulated sugar, as I've used in the past.

So, upon arriving in Ohio on Thanksgiving Eve (is that a thing?), I set to work making up a batch of cranberry-orange sauce, as it needed at least six hours to chill in the fridge. I kind of messed up when making the sauce, as the recipe states to first simmer all of the ingredients except the cranberries, while I tossed everything into the pot at once; however, my sauce turned out just fine, so I've written the recipe below describing how I made it.

Though cranberry sauce is most often associated with the Thanksgiving dinner table, there's no reason why you can't eat it at other times of the year, too. We're blessed with an abundance of organically-grown cranberries here in Wisconsin; since they freeze well, I like to buy plenty of extra to last me through the year. (And what doesn't go into sauce will definitely find its way into a loaf of cranberry-orange bread!)

Cranberry-Orange Sauce (printer-friendly version)
makes 8-10 servings

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup unsweetened 100 percent cranberry juice (not cocktail)
1 cup honey
1 pound fresh cranberries (about 4 cups), rinsed
orange zest for garnish (optional)

1. Add the orange juice, cranberry juice, honey, and cranberries to a 4-quart sauce pot and heat over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries have burst and the mixture has thickened.
2. Pour the cranberry sauce into a serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let set in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight.
3. Add freshly grated orange zest on top of the sauce before serving.

 (lightly adapted from this Alton Brown recipe)

What's Baking: Cranberry Orange Bread

We have an entire package of cranberries left over from the Thanksgiving holiday, so I decided to use up some of them in a loaf of cranberry orange bread. Given that this recipe only includes two tablespoons of melted butter, the resulting bread is relatively low in fat compared to other quick bread recipes. This cranberry orange bread is a particularly good accompaniment to a hot cup of tea, making it my new favorite mid-morning snack.

Cranberry Orange Bread (printer-friendly version)
makes one 9" loaf

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 egg
1/2 cup freshly-squeezed orange juice (one large orange)
zest of one orange
1/4 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
2 tablespoons hot filtered water
1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped roughly
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped roughly

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Grease a 9" loaf pan. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. In a separate bowl, combine together the egg, orange juice, orange zest, pomegranate juice, vanilla, melted butter, and water.
4. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just moistened.
5. Carefully fold in the chopped cranberries and walnuts.
6. Spoon the dough into the prepared loaf pan.
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the bread is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then complete cooling on a wire rack.

(adapted from this recipe)

Holiday Mocktail Hour: Sparkling Cranberry Spritzer

Sparkling Cranberry Spritzer

makes one mocktail

3 oz 100% cranberry juice

2 oz orange juice

club soda

1. In a tall glass, pour in the cranberry and orange juices.

2. Top the glass with club soda.

3. Serve.