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In autumn, in the midst of the cranberry season, the right time comes to prepare not only tasty, but also healthy treats from childhood - after all, not only children like cranberries in sugar, many adults use these candies with pleasure as a preventive measure against many diseases. In addition, regular consumption of cranberry sweets helps maintain healthy skin and hair, helps with myopia, reduces anxiety, which is very important in our difficult times.
Berry preparation
For this seemingly unpretentious delicacy, fresh berries are best suited. However, frozen berries can also be used, but only on the condition that they have not choked and completely retained their shape.
The most important condition that cranberries must meet is to be absolutely dry. That is why, after careful selection and rinsing in cold water, they are laid out on a paper towel and left to dry for at least 8 hours. It is best to do this operation in the evening. If moisture remains on the berries, they will be worse stored. And the delicacy itself may simply not work due to the fact that wet berries cannot be properly saturated with sugar or protein glaze.
It is for this reason that cranberries in sugar are rarely made from frozen berries - after all, very often they do not retain their integrity during the defrosting process and it is difficult to use them to make this delicacy.
Sugar Cranberry Recipe
Although the sweetness is called "cranberries in sugar", powdered sugar is most often used to make the dish. It is she who allows the delicacy to acquire such an unusually white, attractive appearance. Sugar powder can be purchased at any grocery store, and it's even easier to make your own. To do this, you need either a coffee grinder or a blender. From ordinary granulated sugar literally in 30-40 seconds, snow-white powdered sugar is obtained.
But according to the basic recipe, granulated sugar is still useful. So, in order to prepare such a healthy yummy, you only need three ingredients:
- 500 g cranberries;
- 500 ml of water;
- 750 g granulated sugar.
The manufacturing process is simple, but it will take some time.
- First, sugar syrup is made from the entire volume of water and 500 g of sugar. Water with sugar is boiled until sugar is completely dissolved.Comment! A teaspoon of lemon juice is sometimes added as a tasty and healthy addition to sugar syrup, but this is not necessary.
- The berries, placed in a container with a large flat bottom, are poured with warm syrup so that it completely covers all the berries.
- After the syrup has cooled, the container is covered with a lid or plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator overnight.
- The next day, powdered sugar is prepared from the remaining amount of sugar in any convenient way.
- The cranberries are removed from the syrup and doused in powdered sugar.
- With a small amount of berries, this can be done by hand, rolling the cranberries with your fingers like snowballs.
- If there are a lot of berries, then it is better to place them in small portions in a deep flat container filled with powdered sugar. And shaking it in a circular motion, make sure that all the berries are evenly rolled in sugar.
- At the final stage of production, cranberries in sugar must be slightly dried.
- It is best to do this in an electric dryer or oven - at a temperature of about + 40 ° + 50 ° C, the sugar balls will dry in literally half an hour. At room temperature, the candies dry out in 2-3 hours.
- The finished treat can be stored in tin or dry glass jars, and small portions in cardboard boxes.
4 - The syrup in which the cranberries were soaked can also be used to make compote, fruit drink or various cocktails.
4Cranberries in powdered sugar
There is another, no less interesting method of making cranberries in sugar, which uses egg whites.
The ingredients are also the simplest:
- 1 cup cranberries
- 1 egg;
- 1 cup powdered sugar.
Cooking won't take very long.
- Berries, as usual, are selected for the strongest and most beautiful.
- The egg is divided into yolk and white. The yolk is no longer needed - it is used for other dishes. And whisk the protein slightly, but you don't have to wait for the foam to appear.
- The cranberries are placed in a container with protein and gently shaken for a while so that all the berries come into contact with the egg white.
- Then, using a slotted spoon, the cranberries are transferred into a colander to get rid of excess protein moisture.
- Powdered sugar is placed on a flat dish, where cranberries are poured in small quantities and they begin to roll each berry in sugar according to the already familiar scheme.
- After the cranberry balls reach the proper size and condition, they are carefully laid out on a baking sheet covered with paper and dried in the oven at a temperature of no more than + 50 ° C or in a warm, dry room.
Glazed cranberry recipe
There are many variations of cooking cranberries in sugar using egg white. Below is the recipe that is closest to the method by which this delicacy is made in the factory. According to a technology specially developed in the middle of the 20th century, the berry must first be impregnated with a special protein glaze, which, in addition to sugar and egg white, must include starch. It carries out the function of pulling off excess moisture, due to which each berry is covered with a kind of special crispy shell. The exact proportions of the use of starch are usually selected for themselves by each housewife empirically, but there should not be too much of it. By the way, it is easiest to find potato starch on sale, but when using corn and especially wheat starch, the product will turn out to be much more delicate in taste.
So, to cook cranberries in sugar according to the recipe you will need:
- 250 g cranberries;
- 1 egg;
- 250 g icing sugar;
- about 2-3 tablespoons of potato starch;
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon optional
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice optional.
The process of making sweets according to this recipe itself cannot be called complicated.
- The cranberries are prepared and selected in a standard manner.
- The protein is separated from the yolk in a separate container.
- A few tablespoons of powdered sugar and lemon juice, if desired, are added there.
- Mix the protein mixture thoroughly until smooth. It is not necessary to whip it into a strong foam.
- Gradually add starch to the protein mixture and stir, achieving a homogeneous, semi-liquid state. The glaze should turn out to be a deep white color, with a consistency resembling a not very thick condensed milk.
- Prepared cranberries are placed in a container with glaze and they begin to shake it constantly, ensuring that all the berries are covered with glaze.
- It is undesirable to use a mixing spoon - it is better to leave the cranberries in the glaze for 4-6 minutes so that they are well saturated with it.
- Meanwhile, in another container, prepare a mixture of powdered sugar and ground cinnamon. However, cinnamon is used exclusively at will, since a mixture with it will not give that snow-white effect for sprinkling cranberries.
- Using a spoon with holes (slotted spoon), the berries are gradually transferred from the glaze to a container with powdered sugar.
- Do this in small portions, roll each portion in sugar for at least 2-3 minutes to create a layer of sprinkling of a suitable size.
- It is not always possible to immediately achieve a suitable thickness of the berry dusting layer.
- If the first time it seemed that the sprinkling layer was not enough, then the berry can be dipped again in the glaze, and then again thoroughly rolled in powdered sugar.
- As a result, each berry will be covered with durable sugar armor and will look very attractive.
- Well, the final stage, as usual, consists of drying - you cannot do without it, otherwise the berries will not live long.
Conclusion
Sweets "cranberries in sugar", made according to the above recipes, will surely delight all sweet lovers with their look and taste. They can be stored for quite a long time in dry and cool conditions and, placed in colorful packaging, can be an excellent gift for any holiday.
