Cranberry Syrup with Vanilla

A sweet and brightly colored Cranberry Syrup with Vanilla is just the thing you need to add to your recipes all season long! The vibrant red hue is so festive and perfect for hostess gifts as well as any holiday gatherings.  Add it to pancakes, ice cream, cocktails, mocktails, and more to add the perfect combination of vanilla and cranberry any time.

Cranberries and vanilla are a match made in heaven.  Make a double batch of this recipe!  Tart, sweet, and so fragrant, this cranberry syrup will be used on repeat this season.  Cranberries are a favorite ingredient during winter, check out any of these other cranberry recipes soon: Cranberry Cheese Ball, Cranberry Braised Short Ribs, or Cranberry Orange Snacking Cake.

Ingredients

I include ingredient notes here when I think they’ll be helpful, including ways to source, any preparation tips, or why I've chosen a particular ingredient. Be sure to check out the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and their quantities!

• Cranberries - Use fresh cranberries from the produce section or frozen cranberries straight from the bag in this recipe.  
• Sugar - Granulated sugar adds sweetness, of course, but cooking the sugar in water creates a thickened syrup for perfect texture.
• Vanilla Paste - Vanilla paste is a thick syrup packed with vanilla flavor and tiny specks of vanilla.  You can also use a halved and scraped vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract in place of the paste.  The paste gives you those pretty specks of vanilla without having to scrape the bean.

Instructions

Grab a medium sauce pan to cook your syrup as well as a good airtight jar for storing your cooked syrup and cranberries.

Add the cranberries, sugar, and one cup of water to the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until the sugar is fully dissolved and there are small bubbles all around the edges of the mixture.  You don’t want the syrup to come to a full boil, the cranberries will pop open and their pectin will thicken your syrup too much.

Once you have cooked the cranberries and sugar, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla paste.  Cover the saucepan and allow it to steep and cool for one hour.

You can store the syrup with the cranberries or separately.  If you choose to store it separately, strain the syrup with a mesh strainer.

The bright red syrup is ready for all of your holiday recipes!

Serving Suggestions

The cranberry syrup is perfect for drizzling over vanilla ice cream or pancakes.  You can whip the syrup into softened butter for a cranberry-vanilla butter to spread over biscuits or muffins.

Our favorite use for the syrup is in beverages.  Add cranberry syrup to orange-flavored sparkling water or ginger ale for a festive mocktail.  Mix cranberry syrup with rye, bitters, and ice for a modified Old Fashioned.  If you used vanilla beans to make the syrup, garnish with the sweet cranberries and some of the vanilla bean.

The cranberries will get softer and sweeter the longer they are stored in the syrup.  They make an excellent swap for cherries in your favorite Manhattan or other cocktails.

Candied Cranberries

Candied cranberries are a perfect treat to have on hand during the holidays.  You want to cook them only briefly in the syrup so that the berries don’t burst, but as you store them in enough syrup to cover them they mellow out and become soft and sweet.

Candied cranberries can be stirred into cocktails, folded into pancake or muffin batter, or used as garnish on cakes.

Candied cranberries (or cranberry syrup) are a terrific gift to give friends and family during the holiday season.  Add them to an airtight jar and pop on a bow for easy and inexpensive hostess gifts.