Right now, my kitchen is full of comforting holiday smells. Gingerbread studded with tangy cranberries, just pulled from the oven, is cooling on the counter.
Most years, I'm scrambling to make last-minute gifts for friends and family members. But this time I'm not letting my holiday goodies get away from me. These mini ginger-cakes actually taste better when made in advance, allowing time for the spices to mellow. They're so rich with butter and molasses that they'll stay moist for several weeks. They're especially good served with dollops of cranberry sauce sparked with chunks of homemade candied ginger.
Wisconsin is the fresh cranberry capital of the world. Though production is higher in New Jersey and Massachusetts, their crop is pressed into juice, dried or canned. I am partial to the organic cranberries from Ruesch Century Farm in central Wisconsin and James Lake Farms in northern Wisconsin, where berries are grown without chemicals in smaller bogs. They're available at farmers markets and our local food co-ops.
Now that it's peak cranberry season, my sauce production is in full swing. My grandmother used a heavy metal grinder, clamped to her kitchen counter, for her fresh cranberry-orange sauce. Into the giant maw went the fresh berries with a whole orange while out came the tart relish she lightly sweetened with sugar.
These days, I rely on a food processor to do the trick, use maple sugar for complex flavors and substitute a few sweet, thin-skinned clementines for the navel oranges once used. This sauce stays fresh for at least a week in a covered container in the refrigerator. It's delicious swirled into mayonnaise for turkey salad, as salsa for chips, and a garnish for roast chicken.
Cooking transforms cranberries into a pretty tart sauce that doubles for jam on scones, is great over vanilla ice cream or blood orange sorbet, terrific swirled into yogurt or baked into a crust. In a sauce, they thicken up as they cook because of pectin in the berries. For my recipe, the sauce is sparked with chunks of candied ginger to add not-so-sweet heat.
Fresh, local cranberries are always the best choice; they're sweeter than frozen and require less sugar to temper their bite. The only trick is to add the sweetener after the sauce is cooked. It doesn't matter if it's honey, maple, white or brown sugar, adding it too soon can make the berries tough — and it's easy to add too much. I always make a little extra sauce, as a gift to myself.
Double Ginger Mini-Loaves
Makes 2 mini-loaves (6 to 8 slices per loaf).
