A CRANBERRY CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY RECIPE

Merry Christmas and happy new year to you! My present to you? This recipe. It is a Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday recipe favorite. I’m not kidding when I say that I think that my family actually gets more excited that I’ll be making these little heavenly sandwiches more then they get excited about the actual holiday itself, lol! Go ahead and ask them, they’ll tell you! They are so good! I only make them during Thanksgiving and Christmas because a. they use cranberries and b. I always have leftover cranberries in my freezer after Thanksgiving and c. they are so rich that if I made them all the time they may lose their luster with the fam, lol.

So pull your leftover Thanksgiving cranberries from the freezer and let’s get cookin’! I will add how to make this gluten free too even though I would just make it all gluten free because if you buy the right bread nobody can tell! My husband and his uncle think that they don’t like “gluten-free” recipes but every year (even this past Thanksgiving) I caught them sneaking sandwiches before I put them out on a serving tray and they were picking from the gluten free sandwiches….bwahaha! I’ve made this so many times and for so long now that I don’t have a recipe for this anymore so I am just going to do my best with the ingredient list and just tell you how I buy and make everything.

This recipe makes 1 baguette.

The time from start to finish is approximately 2 hours (including chill times).

Ingredients for this Christmas holiday recipe – cranberry delight sandwiches:

4 cups of cranberries

2 cups of sugar

1 cup of water

2 tbsp. of lemon juice

1 pinch of salt

8 ounces of goat cheese

¼ cup of crème fraiche

2 tbsp. chopped chives

1 baguette  

***Gluten Free Option: Udis Gluten Free Crispy French Baguettes (only edible brand IMO).

1 bag of baby arugula

Is your mouth watering yet? :p

Tools you will need:

Medium sized pot

Sifter

Mixer

Instructions for this Christmas holiday recipe – cranberry delight sandwiches:

Put together in pot, cranberries (4 cups), sugar (2 cups), water (1 cup), lemon juice (2 tbsp.) and a pinch of salt. Bring pot to a boil. Bring the heat down and cook on medium for about 20-30 minutes, the cranberries will simmer and they will start to “pop” (the skin will pop off of the berries) and the mixture will start to thicken. Remove from heat and let it cool. Then puree the mixture. Next I place the mixture into a sifter and slowly push mixture through the sifter into a bowl for about 15-30 min. (or however long it takes), this part is a tad tedious but oh man it makes the best jelly ever, if you aren’t careful and the cranberry skin bits make it into your jelly, it will taste DISGUSTING. Chill the jelly.

Next, place the goat cheese (8 ounces), crème fraiche (1/4 cup) and chopped chives (2 tbsp.) in your mixer and pulse.

Cut the baguette in half lengthwise and spoon out the soft bread on the inside. *Sometimes depending on the baguette, I’ll only hollow out the top half but if it’s your first time I would hollow out the whole baguette.

Spread some of the jelly mixture on the top half of the bread. Spread your cheese mixture on the bottom half of the bread. Place some baby arugula over the cheese mixture and put both halves of bread together. Wrap tightly in plastic and chill (make sure it’s wrapped properly, this bread can get pretty hard).

Slice up the baguette in to ½ inch slices.

Serve and impress your family and friends with this Christmas holiday recipe, cranberry delight sandwiches!