Yep, every year I forget how to make the same two recipes: cranberry sauce and roasted chestnuts.

I know. The holidays are over. It’s January for cooks-sake. BUT I am going to document these puppies before I misplace them AGAIN. I’m not kidding. For the past three November’s, Thanksgiving shows up and I find myself asking, where’s that cranberry sauce recipe my family loves? This year, I couldn’t find it at all and had to try another one (which wasn’t a bad thing really). December arrives and I’ve suddenly got fresh chestnuts rolling around the grocery card– and once again, I can’t figure out how to roast them in the oven…sigh. I suffer from holiday brainwash.

No more my food friends– I will be bookmarking this page for next year.

My Go-To Apple Cranberry Sauce Recipe:

1 12 ounce bag of cranberries

2 large Honey Crisp Apples, diced

1/4 cup of water

¼ cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice

¾ cup of granulated white sugar

1/2 teaspoon of ginger

½ teaspoon of cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan, and bring to a boil. Stir, and simmer until cranberries burst and apples soften. Continue to simmer until sauce thickens. From initial boil to thickening takes around 10-20 minutes. As I remember, you have to keep an eye on it and make sure the sugar doesn’t burn. Let it cool and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve it!

I couldn’t find my usual recipe in time for the holidays this year, so I tried a new one, a Pear-Ginger Chutney. I think I liked it even better!

Pear-Ginger Chutney Recipe

1 12 ounce bag of fresh cranberries

1 cup of granulated white sugar

2 ripe pears, peeled and diced.

1/4 cup of diced crystalized ginger

1 minced jalapeno (minus the seeds)

1 tsp of freshly grated ginger

1/4 tsp of salt

Combine cranberries and sugar in a medium saucepan. Coat the cranberries in the sugar, then set saucepan over medium heat. Stir and cook until cranberries start to burst and sugar dissolves. It took about 8 minutes. Stir in the pears, crystalized ginger, salt, and jalapeno. Stir and cook until pears are softened. It took about 8-10 minutes. Let it cool, then refrigerate until you’re ready to serve it!

Perfect Oven Roasted Chestnuts

That’s right– this recipe is perfect. Or almost. Trust me. After as much trial and error I’ve had, let me just give you this recipe and you can go about your chestnut oven roasting business.

This works on any quantity of chestnuts– that’s up to you. I always add a few extra just incase a few of the nuts refuse to peel.

1) Preheat oven to 375

2) Fill a bowl (big enough to hold all the chestnuts you’re going to roast) with water.

3) Grab a casserole dish with a lid (something you can put in the oven).

4) Pick out the chestnuts you want roast.

5) There will be a rounded and flat side to the chestnut. Find the flat side. Using a paring knife, cut a small X through the shell of the chestnut. This will keep the chestnuts from exploding in your oven (yeah).

6) Drop each scored chestnut into the bowl of water.

7) Let them all soak in the water for 3 minutes. This will help the nuts steam in the oven.

8) Place the scored and soaked chestnuts in the casserole dish with the lid. Put the lid on- don’t forget it!

9) Roast in the oven for 15 minutes.

10) When time’s up, take the lid off and let the chestnuts cool for 5 minutes in their casserole dish. You still want them to be warm to touch. If they completely cool, there’s no way in heck to peel them.

11) Use the same small knife, and possibly a hand held nut cracker to help you peel the shell and the “furry” skin off the soft chestnut meat. Be careful with that nutcracker the chestnut could mush on you, so only use it on stubborn chestnuts.

12) Set the nuts aside until you are ready to saute or eat them. I always saute mine in some olive oil, a dash or two of freshly ground pepper and garlic salt and 1 teaspoon of fresh chopped rosemary.

Fresh unpeeled chestnuts must stay refrigerated and last for a week or two, just depending on how fresh they were to begin with. I love to put pan sautéed chestnuts on top of my winter salad.

Well, there they are, the holiday recipes I forget every year. Problem solved– I hope.