• Cooking Time: 10 minuteus
• Servings: 4-6
• Preparation Time: 10 minutes
• 1 bag fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained thoroughly
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 REAL maple syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Optional: 1 can mandarin oranges, drained or 1 fresh orange sliced

1. Add the first four ingredients to a medium saucepan and stir in the cinnamon. Bring mixture to a boil, then lower heat and allow to simmer uncovered. Add the oranges and mix. until the skins pop--usually around 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Refrigerate overnight for best results--sauce tends to be a bit thicker after refrigeration.
3. With the oranges this makes about 3 1/4 cups of sauce, without you'll end up with about 2 1/4 cups.
5. Note - this can also be made quite easily in the microwave. Just mix all the ingredients (except the oranges) in a Pyrex, or microwave-safe bowl, and cook on high for about 7-10 minutes. Keep in mind that microwaves vary so try checking the mixture at 7 minutes. For whole-berry sauce like this, the berries do not have to cook for long so be careful not to burn them. Once the mix is done, add the oranges, mix, and cool.

Everywhere I go I seem to find the same canned cranberry sauce, cranberry relish or plain homemade cranberry sauce. I can't stand the canned stuff, and the others are o.k., but I wanted to try my hand at something a little more spruced up. So I came up with this concoction. It's great served with a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but as long as cranberries are on the market, I'm making this cranberry sauce. It is great with meats, especially poultry!