Oooh, sounds tasty! I’m officially inspired to do canned goods as gifts. This reminds me though, my favorite cranberry sauce recipe involves rum. Can alcohol influence canning procedure in any way? I realize that the rum gets cooked off, but not all of it does.

Hi Marisa,

I do a jam close to this. I also add orange juice (fresh squeeze of course) and toasted pecans, then I throw in 2 cinnamon sticks to give a touch of cinnamon flavor. I’m giving them out tomorrow for Thanksgiving.

Do you have any clever ideas for giving them. I’m tried of wrapping ribbon or fabric around. But I have a feeling I will be doing that again this year. I’m tapped out of ideas on that one.

Great blog!

Jess, without seeing the entirety of your cranberry sauce recipe, I can’t tell you whether or not it’s safe to can. However, the fact it includes alcohol wouldn’t prevent it from being canned, as alcohol is a preservative (I used a recipe for canned peaches this year in which the top of each jar is topped off with a splash of brandy).
Liz, unfortunately, this recipe needs all the sugar that I’ve included. The thing to remember is that jam making is part candy making, you need the sugar to react with the fruit juices, thicken and turn into the syrup, which will then give you that nice, jammy consistency. If you reduce the sugar too much, you don’t have jam anymore, you have a apple cranberry butter (which could certainly be delicious, but that’s not the recipe I’m offering here).

Jane, that jam sounds delicious! As far as wrapping the jars, I’m not always the best resource, I tend to label mine with a Sharpie and pass them out without any further adornment. However, you could try switching to tying them with raffia and a little note. If you have an inexpensive source of vintage silver spoons (you can often get them at the thrift store for $.50 a piece), clean one up and tie one to the jar.
Chiot’s Run, I’m so glad to offer a recipe that works with your theme! And I’ve been salivating over your Mulled Cider Jelly since I first saw you mention it on your blog. Sounds amazing!

This sounds delicious! Also very festive, and great for gifts. Do you peel the apples before cooking? I’ve never made jam before – do you need to press it through a strainer like applesauce? Or does all the fruit that goes into the pot also goes into the jar…?

Perfect for Christmas! I just made some cranberry jam the other day, but I bet it would be so much better with apples. Can’t wait to try this.

Thanks! This was the one I was waiting for, now just to find some time…

I’m giving my Dad a huge assortment of home canned yummies this year, from lemon ginger marmalade, to roasted habanero honey, to pickled plums! I’m just about to head out to the market to buy apples and maple syrup for Maple Apple Butter, yum!! I’m going to pack all the jars (about a dozen or so) in a pretty rectangular basket lined with some nice new teatowels. I’m also going to include hand printed cards that say what each item can be used for (my Dad would probably try to put the habanero honey on toast, probably not the best idea….).

This is so yummy! Marisa, my Mom and Ed made it together this weekend and it is fabulous! Thanks for the recipe!

I found some time, and just got done making this- really delicious! I saved out a couple jelly jars to eat right away, and I know this is going to sweeten my plain yogurt really nice. I did add about a teaspoon each of cinnamon and ginger, and a pinch of salt and Jamican allspice. It is sweet, but so Christmassy! Next time I may use some grated ginger instead of the ground- I was out this time.

I love your blog — so glad I found it! And, this recipe …. and all of your fans’ comments – this will be my first time attempting to jar. I am wondering if it is possible to use agave or another substitute (nothing fake!) instead of the sugar to make jams and/or for future canning recipes that call for sugar? Thanks for your expertise!

YUMMY!!! And a great way to use the leftover cranberries from Thanksgiving. This is going into a basket with homemade bread, thanks for the recipe.

ps. care to share the pancake mix recipe as well?

Marisa, I recently made apple pie and peeled-diced WAY too many apples. I boiled them down into an applesauce thinking I’d like to make apple butter, but this looks mighty appealing too. Do you think I could get away with boiling the cranberries sugar and water separately (since I already made the apple sauce) and then combining to make the jam? Or is that just cray-zy?

I used this recipe to much success. Your note about using soft apples is a good one- I made three batches, and used honeycrisp apples for the last one- they took much longer to cook down, and I ended up using a potato masher to break them up. However, thanks to the longer cooking time, this batch is darker, richer and more intensely flavored (yum- this batch I am keeping mostly for myself!).

To add to a commentor’s question about decorating, I have a 2″ round hole punch (thanks to the boom of scrapbooking, you can find these at most craft stores). I cut out the circles from festive paper, place the circle on top of the jar and screw the rim back on. If you are feeling really crafty, you can use a holiday stamp on the paper. My sister and I made 4 oz jars of apple butter as my wedding favor, and we used a custom stamp to decorate the paper. Let me know if you’d like more info…