Candied cranberries can easily make your Holiday dessert, drink, snack or gift look festive in an instant. Taking a few minutes to prepare your own berries for celebration and gifting is worth your time and effort. It takes just a few minutes of cooking. The main chunk of time is for chilling these delicious berries before you sugar coat them.
Is A Candied Cranberries Recipe Labor Intensive?
With only three ingredients, these colorful berries couldn’t be simpler to make. You won’t even notice that you’ve been in the kitchen!
I like to prepare my candied cranberries ahead of time. The best thing is that you can make them and freeze. Actually, when the berries are frozen, they are so easy to use and to incorporate into your festivities and holiday menus.
For a grand celebration and festive mood, check out and make this Candied Cranberries White Cake recipe. Simply magical.
Basically, once you heat the cranberries in a maple syrup and after chilling them, you will leave the entire mixture in the fridge to cool and create a sticky coat around each berry.
The next day, you will take a few minutes to drain the cranberries and then coat the in cane sugar. I actually enjoy this process a lot. To me, it is magical how different ingredients can create a festive mood and holiday atmosphere. Cranberries certainly belong to such.
How Long Do Sugared Cranberries Last?
You can store sugarcoated cranberries in the refrigerator for a week. If you want to save a batch for your next party, I would place them in a bowl and into the freezer bag. This way, the berries will preserve the taste and shape when stored in the freezer up to a month.
If you want to freeze the coated berries more than one month, go ahead! Just keep in mind that sugar may come off more easily and many berries may look a bit tattered. But there’s nothing wrong in freezing these yummies.
I keep fresh berries frozen in the fridge for months to use when they are out of season.
Candied Cranberries
Sugared or candied cranberries are a perfect offering for snacking. Use these delicious berries for dessert garnishes, cocktail and edible gifts.
Ingredients
- 1 cup organic pure maple syrup
- 2 cups fresh or organic frozen cranberries
- 1 cup cane sugar
Instructions
Heat maple syrup in a medium saucepan jut until warm, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in cranberries. Cover and chill 8-12 hours.
Place cranberry mixture in a colander over a bowl and let drain for 15 minutes. You can easily reserve the drained maple syrup for your other uses.
Place sugar in a shallow dish and gradually toss cranberries in syrup into the sugar to coat. I use a spoonful of cranberries to coat each time until they’re all gone.
Remove sugar-coated cranberries and place them into a dish lined with parchment paper. Let stand until completely dry for about 2 hours.
Pin How To Make Candied Cranberries for Your Holiday Cooking
I’ve been making candied cranberries for many holiday occasions and parties. Placing them in small bowls to be seen by everybody truly lifts the mood of the guests. Enjoy them with your desserts, drinks, salads and as a late night snack or late evening dessert.
62 thoughts on “Candied Cranberries for Your Holiday Cooking, Snacking and Gifting”
Candied cranberries sound like a delightful addition to holiday treats! The combination of maple syrup and cane sugar adds a rich sweetness to the tartness of the cranberries
Whether you’re elevating desserts, garnishing drinks, or preparing thoughtful gifts, this quick and easy recipe is a game-changer. The burst of sweetness combined with the vibrant red hue will make your treats stand out. A perfect addition to your festive culinary repertoire!
I love candied cranberries! They’re so yummy to snack on but they are also great for decorating the holiday dishes too! I make them each year..it’s a tradition ^_^
Tammy,
Yes, these cranberries are my delightful snack during the Holiday season.
I am so making these this year. They are beautiful and I bet they are delicious too! Thanks for sharing!
Melissa,
I tried different recipes for candied fruit. But this one has my own tweaks and works wonderful!
I love cranberries, and never thought about making candied cranberries for the holidays. What a fun recipe idea, and for sure special holiday treat to bring to your gatherings this year.
Brandy,
This recipe has become one of my favorites.
I also can be creative and use a bit of chocolate to dip the candied cranberries in and then freeze them.
This way, I can package them and gift them to my friends and family. Or just enjoy as a dessert.
It’s a bit of longish process, as I need to dip 2-4 berries at a time. But it’s totally worth it.
I bet these would be really good to go on top of a chocolate cake or Christmas cupcakes. I’ve never thought to candy fruit before so I may need to give this a go as I love cranberries x
I am definitely doing to make these! They look really pretty so would make a lovely little gift as well as a tasty snack!
Asha,
These are my favorite snacks during Holidays. I love these berries!
These are fantastic. I love how versatile they are. I can set them out as snacks or add them to recipes. That’s a winner!
I also like them a bit frozen. I put a tray with the candied berries into the freezer for about 10 minutes. They come out amazing with your desserts.
Excited to whip up these festive candied cranberries for celebrations!
Isabellita,
Celebrate the colorful dessert of yours with these amazing cranberries!
I have never had candied cranberries before. These actually look delicious and I think my daughters and I need to give them a try!
These would be great toppings for a cake as well. That is looking quite delicious and I’m sure they would like this, thanks for sharing the recipe, and will definitely try this out sometime.
I like that you use maple syrup to sweeten them and they look so pretty too!
I was looking for this recipe to share with my mom. She’s been craving candied cranberries for the holidays. So excited to give this a try with her.
These are so pretty. I need to get some cranberries so I can make these.
Seems great for Christmas Eve,plus it looks lovely.
I haven’t tried eating candied cranberries,but it looks so great. Thanks for sharing this idea.
I love cranberries..going to market to buy this and prepare the desert
I have been wanting to try cranberries and berries. These kind of recipes are making me crave it more.
Oh yum, I just want to munch on them!
I’ve never had candied cranberries before. I bet the sweetness combined with the tartness of cranberries is amazing! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
I bet this will look great on top of a pudding or gelatin.
Delicious, Making ma mouth full of water
This is so easy and delicious, I am going to make this at home. Thank you!
I have never tried cranberries before. Hopefully I’ll be able to taste one in the future, but regardless, this is really awesome!
These look amazing and really simple to make. I will definitely consider making these for Christmas this year!
These look delicious, I have never heard/tried candied cranberries but now I want them so bad!
I’m definitely trying it! They look so pretty! Such a great holiday addition!
I have never had candied cranberries before but they look so good! A fun garnish idea for a cocktail too!
I can’t believe it’s easy to make this. Now I want to try this and always have it as snack.
These candied cranberries are so festive! I am so glad to make them at home!
I don’t know that I’ve ever had a candied cranberry but these are so pretty! I bet I’d like them too.
Yummy..! Looks so delicious and it’s nice that it can prolonged the cranberries. Thanks for sharing..!
I have never had candied cranberries before. I love cranberries. I will have to make these for the holidays.
Those look so good. I have never tried candied cranberries before. This makes me want to try them. They look amazing.
We made candied cranberries for the first time last year and really loved them. I never thought about giving them as gifts. That’s an excellent suggestion!
Oh I would love to receive this as a Christmas gift! My kids will surely enjoy these too! Thanks for sharing!
Wow…this is a lot of sugar LOL! But it would be great for Christmas though!
Jay,
Yes, it is Holiday Season to make traditional foods and make things look festive.
I eat a few of these candied cranberries with my dessert or fresh salads to add unique flavors.
Nope, don’t it them by the pound!
These look so delicious and are so festive. Definetly need to try the recipe x
Laura
Cranberries are one of the things I look forward to in the Fall. I must try this candied cranberries recipe!
I love candied cranberries, and I am seeing them after so long time.
Thanks for sharing it. I am going to try this in the weekends.
We live in cranberry country, so we have more cranberries than we know what to do with. This is a great idea.
This looks delicious but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to eat them on my diet.
I love cranberries on breads and pies, but I don’t know where to buy them locally. I guss I might be satisfied with the canned cranberries.
I have never used fresh cranberries although I often buy dried ones for snacking. What does the maple syrup soak do for the cranberries?
Cranberries is one of those fruits I just never know what to do with. These are great recipes! Thanks!
This just gives me so many Christmas vibes!!!
Yummy! This candied cranberries is very nice to put on table on every Holiday season. You can serve a dessert in a simplest and healthy way. I’m gonna need to prepare this one. Kid’s would really love this. <3
I’ve always found cranberries to be a bit bitter, but this TOTALLY solves that problem! Love this, thanks for taking the time to put this together!
It’s been a while since I had candied cranberries. I might use it atop cakes this season.
Wow this is amazing. A perfect one for my son. Only problem is cranberries are very rare here in India. I need to find a suitable market for it.
I’ve never made candied cranberries but I might have to try this out this year!
My kids love candied cranberries. I haven’t made them recently though, thanks for the reminder. I’m definitely going to have to add them to our holiday treat list.
I have wanted to make candied cranberries for a while. This looks like the perfect cake recipe. I love it.
I love all things Cranberries. I’m a fan of Candied Strawberries but I need to try this one out!
THis looks and sounds so super yummy for the holidays. Bright and pretty and it tastes good too? Where do I sign up for more of your fab recipes? Thanks so much for sharing 🙂