December 10, 2022

Cranberry and apple curd

Cranberry and apple curd. Goodness, this is a special, no fuss seasonal joy of a recipe. It’s the sort of make ahead recipe, similar to chutneys, that you can serve with so many things and it just makes everything taste that much better and more festive too. Cranberries and apples go so well together and with the orange and cinnamon it is a real holiday treat.

Made in minutes, it’s a brilliant way to use up leftover cranberries you’ve got lying around, particularly if you’re like me and buy too many for your cranberry sauce and then aren’t quite sure what to do with the rest. Plus they’re only in season so fleetingly it’s lovely to be able to celebrate their jewel bright colour and gorgeously zesty flavour like this. Have it on toast, a cheeky slice of panettone, lovingly spooned onto breakfast muffins or scones, stirred into a steaming bowl of porridge or use like your would lemon curd in baking. So many choices. They would make a beautiful and unique homemade gift this time of year too.

If you pop it in a sterilised jar it’ll keep for months, or pop it in the fridge and use within a few weeks. Or, batch some up and pop in the freezer for when you fancy it. So versatile.

This curd has some texture even after you blitz it, but if you want it smoother, sieve the puree before adding the eggs and butter. It’s delicious either way, but I quite like the texture, it gives a real sense of what is in the curd, and it is homemade after all, that’s part of its charm. (Less washing up too) Fab-yule-ous.

Ingredients

350g fresh cranberries

150g caster sugar

1 large cooking apple (Bramley apples are great here)

Zest and juice of 2 oranges

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt

60g unsalted butter

3 large egg yolks

This will make enough to fill 1x 400g jars

Method for cranberry and apple curd

Give the cranberries a good wash and add them to a large saucepan.

Chop the cooking apple into small pieces and add to the cranberries then zest the oranges on top.

In a jug, juice the oranges (this should give you about 130 ml and then top it off with cold water to reach 200ml in total) Pour this into the saucepan too, alongside the cinnamon and salt.

Cook the cranberries on a medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until they have popped, the apples have softened and cooked and some of the liquid has evaporated and thickened. Off the heat, use a stick blender to make a puree. Remove approximately 100ml of the puree and leave to one side to cool. Leave the remaining batch of puree to cool too for about 10 minutes before the next stage.

Separate 3 egg yolks (you can save the whites for meringues) and gently whisk in a bowl. Once the puree has cooled, add the 100ml into the eggs, gently stirring them all together. (This is called tempering the eggs, which basically means, gradually warming them up, so they don’t curdle, which really isn’t what you want here).

Then add the mixture into the rest of the puree and stir gently to combine on a very low heat. (You don’t want the eggs to scramble if the heat is too high).

Once the mixture begins to thicken, gradually add cubes of butter and stir. When you have added all the butter and it has melted and combined into the curd it’s ready. Turn off the heat and spoon into prepared jars.