Tart cranberries and sweet apples are baked inside a brown sugar and oat crisp for a perfect not-to-sweet cranberry apple crisp.

Cranberry Apple Crisp

Old fashioned apple crisp has long been a stand by recipe for me. One that works for any occasion and no one seems to turn down, especially if it is warm and I add vanilla ice cream.

Take your apple crisp, add a bag of cranberries, yes an entire bag. Because who wants just a half cup of leftover berries floating around their fridge? And there you have it, a perfect cranberry apple crisp.

Well, that’s almost all there is to it. I do like tart things, but the crisp does need some sugar mixed with the fruit to help those cranberries.

I am always curious, who peels their apples for crisp? I admit I do not anymore. They cook down nicely and I am good with skipping that step. No one in my family seems to notice that I have started doing that.

I know cranberries are only available fresh in the late fall and early winter time frame but finding ways to enjoy them year-round has been my personal mission. Lucky for everyone they freeze extremely easily.

And to make it even easier, there’s nothing special to it. Just toss the bag in your freezer. I have found that frozen and fresh are quite interchangeable. There isn’t a recipe I have written yet that you can’t swap fresh for frozen and vice versa.

Apple Cranberry Crisp

Not only is cranberry apple crisp delicious to eat I am in love with the bright red festive color of the berries contrasted by the white apple slices. To assemble your crisp toss the cranberries and apple slices with your sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

In fruit crisps I don’t always use cornstarch, however, it does help

Kara’s Christmas Cranberry Jell-o

Simple cherry jell-o full of fresh cranberries, apples and bananas makes for the best Christmas side dish on the dinner table!

Two years ago we had our cute friends over and Kara brought jell-o. Whhhhaaaaaa? When is the last time that someone brought jell-o to dinner? I was OBSESSED with it growing up, like it was one of my favorite things, but now I’m so old and it’s so sugary so I kinda ditched it, but I AM BACK!!! 

I’m so in!!

Kara’s Christmas Jell-o is one of those unexpected surprises. It’s so flavorful, the color is so bright and cheery and my goodness, it hits every good thing about life. I cannot get enough of it and I wouldn’t even share it except based on the love you all have for our raspberry pretzel jello, lemon pudding orange jello and our lemon jello cake, I’m gonna guess you all are fans of those killer jello recipes too. 

Kara is the friend that always remembers me. I don’t know how else to say it, she just is. She’s the one that pops by when I’m totally not expecting it. She’s the one that invites us over, asks about our kids and just loves us. 

And we love her, and her jell-o. Pretty sure you’re going to love it too.

Ingredients for Christmas Jell-o

You only need 5 ingredients to make this bright and festive Christmas side dish! Here is your shopping list:

• Cherry Jello
• Sugar
• Cranberries
• Apple
• Banana

The measurements for each can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

This creamy cranberry jalapeno dip is lightly sweetened and balanced with just a hint of heat from the peppers. Served with crackers and pretzels or spread on toast, this is an unforgettable holiday treat.

Creamy Cranberry Dip

As soon as I tasted the Cranberry Jalapeno Dip I shared with you last week, I knew I was going to be making it on repeat. I quickly discovered that by stirring it all together, versus serving it in the more striking layers, it was easier to snack on without the potential for crumbling crackers in the cream cheese.

I love the flavor combination but I just may love the festive holiday colors even more. You’ll just do a couple of things differently in this recipe, in order to achieve a perfectly spreadable creamy cranberry jalapeno dip.

I am a big fan of fresh or frozen cranberries. As I’ve said for years, stock up on cranberries while you can, my friends. I buy as many bags as I can get my hands on during the holidays and stash them in the freezer. You don’t need to do anything special with them. Just toss the bags in the freezer and use them while still frozen for any number of recipes.

You can make this with either fresh or frozen cranberries. I did find this to be a teeny tiny bit more crunchy when made with cranberries that hadn’t been frozen, but it honestly wasn’t noticeable to anyone but me. I’ll happily be making this with frozen cranberries throughout the year for every possible occasion.

Cranberry Jalapeno Dip Costco

Have you tried the Costco Cranberry Dip that everyone is talking about? Well, I did and it’s delicious. Guess what though? We like this one even better.

The Costco dip is made with both cream cheese and sour cream. It’s good, don’t get me wrong, but we found that we preferred using all cream cheese and just thinning it a bit with the reserved cranberry juice to achieve the desired consistency.

If you want a near-exact match for Costco’s recipe for cranberry dip, add ¼ cup of sour cream while beating the cream cheese smooth. Just be cautious if you add any extra cranberry liquids, as that will thin it out quickly. Add just a teaspoon or so at a time to keep the right creamy consistency.

Tart cranberries and spicy peppers mingle in this sweet and spicy Cranberry Pepper Jelly. Everyone goes crazy for this spicy jam at the very first bite!

When I realized I had been buying cranberry pepper jam almost every time I was at the grocery store, I knew it was time to make my own version of this jam.

I first tasted this jam with brie and fancy wafer crackers. Then I poured the jam over a simple block of cream cheese and served it with Ritz crackers. My kids went nuts over that.

Next, I spread this pepper jam on the Best Ever Ham Sandwich. When you layer this Cranberry Pepper Jam with creamy goat cheese, salty ham, and fresh arugula, it’s the sandwich that everyone is going to be talking about.

Cranberry Jalapeno Jam

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned an upcoming recipe that has been as highly anticipated as this recipe for pepper jam.

I mentioned that I would soon be sharing the recipe when I first shared that awesome ham sandwich recipe a few weeks ago. In the time since, I’ve received countless emails, messages, and snaps asking when I’ll be sharing the recipe for cranberry jalapeno jelly.

I’ll apologize now for the delay, because the recipe just wasn’t perfect until this version. And when I say it is perfect, I mean it. It is absolutely positively PERFECT now.

Side note: if you love sweet heat combinations and cranberries as much as we do, you definitely need to put this cranberry jalapeno dip on your must-try list too!

Spicy Jam

When you’re working with cranberries, I’ve found that it’s really easy to make a cranberry sauce. As evidenced by this classic homemade cranberry sauce and this spicy hot pepper cranberr

Slightly chewy with a sweetly tart combination, cranberry oatmeal bars are full of cranberries and apples topped with brown sugar and oatmeal crumbs.

Cranberry Oatmeal Bars

Sometimes, not often, but sometimes desserts are just too overpoweringly sweet. Especially during the times of the year when we are surrounded by so many rich indulgent foods. Desserts with cranberries are the perfect answer to that.

I can’t be the only one feeling that way. I know, because if I make a dessert with cranberries to take to a gathering, it guaranteed that I will come home with an empty pan. I have a feeling that these easy cranberry oatmeal bars with fresh cranberries will meet a similar fate.

Cranberry oat bars loaded with cranberries and chopped apples bring just the right amount of sweetness to any dessert or snack time. Because they have fruit and oatmeal I would argue they could be considered for breakfast as well.

The layer of fruit between the crust and easy crumb topping is thickened by the cranberries and cornstarch and sweetened by the apples with a touch of sugar. The crust is a buttery oatmeal shortbread pressed firmly into the pan.

The topping is the remainder of the crust ingredients, just crumbled and loosely spread over the fruit. When baked the topping will brown and the cranberry and apples will bubble and smell amazing.

To serve, you can even top the bars with Brown Sugar Ice Cream or Eggnog Ice Cream for an unforgettable holiday dessert.

Cranberry Desserts

Cranberries are s