Sugar free cranberry-orange sauce
As we know Finland is the beautiful land of lakes and forests with abundance and a large variety of berries which are very healthy, packed with vitamins and antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. But usually foreigners find berries very strong and therefore it is not consumed easily. However, it is good to know that if berries are mixed with other fruits and made a nice sauce, they feel less strong and instead berries give a little sharp aromatic flavour to the sauces. This way one can create a special and delicious sauce which is very versatile and easy to consume in larger amounts and utilise their health benefits as well.
ingredients
2 cups cranberries
1 cup dates
1 cup orange juice
Instructions
Cook all the ingredients together in medium-low heat for 15 minutes, or until cranberries are well cooked and broken down, stirring occasionally to make sure it is not burning and the sauce is not getting dry or sticking to the bottom. If needed, add more orange juice or a few spoons of water.
Once it is cooked, let it cool, mix well using the fork or hand whisk. Adjust the sweetness if needed by adding more dates mashed with fork and mix well.
Note:
Dates need to be the very soft ones, or if they are dry, soak them in 1 cup water for an hour or until they turn soft.
You can choose orange juice ready from shops that are sugar free, or one can squeeze oranges from fresh to make the amount of one cup (2-3 oranges).
Alternatively one can blend the dates + orange juice in the blender at the beginning, then add to the pot and cook together with cranberries, in this case, there is no need to mix afterwards. Or if you want to use regular sugar, replace the dates with a cup of sugar.
In order to make it more aromatic as an option one can also add 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon cinnamon + 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon ginger powder, one apple chopped finely and some orange zest, and cook all ingredients together with cranberries and orange juice, etc.
Serve and enjoy it alone or over fresh fruit, or on top of apple pie/pumpkin pie/pancakes/ice cream, or any of your favourite sweet treats, or as a healthy option, to eat it with morning porridge and fresh fruit. You can use this sauce in smoothies as well.