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Bought a bag of cranberries but only used a portion of them? Here’s how you use them up before they go bad! This cranberry syrup is great for cocktails, topped on vanilla ice cream or just eaten with a spoon.

Don’t those cranberries look beautiful? I just love their color!

Last week I made a cranberry orange juice bread, which required me to buy a one pound bag of cranberries only to use one cup. Since then I had been searching for a recipe that didn’t need a full bag of cranberries or consisted of ingredients I also had on hand. Cranberry jam came up, which I most definitely want to try, but I didn’t have an apple or any pectin to make a jam. But rest assured, I will be making cranberry jam before these lovely things disappear from the grocery store.

This recipe is so simple, requires few ingredients and took a total of twelve minutes to make. YOU CAN DO THIS.

Cranberry Syrup

Makes roughly one pint

Ingredients:

2 cups cranberries, roughly – if you have a little more or a little less you’ll be ok
1 cup water
1 cup sugar

Wash the cranberries so they’re nice and clean for your syrup.

In a medium saucepan, combine cranberries with sugar and water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for ten minutes on medium, stirring occasionally. Once cranberries start to puff up and the sugar is dissolved, strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Transfer syrup to a pint jar or your preferred container. Let cool until it is no longer steaming, then refrigerate.

John and I made cocktails that evening with 4 tbsp vodka (2 ounces), 4 tbsp cranberry syrup and sprite, poured over ice and stirred. The syrup will hang out at the bottom of the glass if you don’t stir it up. These were hefty drinks – if you’re looking for something lighter, use 2 tbsp of vodka (1 ounce). The cranberry syrup makes the drinks pink, pretty and sweet!