Cranberry citrus sauce- my Thanksgiving "must have" dish

This cranberry sauce is nothing like the cranberry sauce from a can. It’s sweet and tart and has the texture of a soupy jam. My mom made this for Thanksgiving every year when I was growing up. For me, it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without it. I didn’t like it much as a kid, but fell in love when my tastes buds grew up. It’s too good to eat only on Thanksgiving! The recipe is very quick, easy, and delicious.

A few years ago, I took this dish to a Thanksgiving potluck at work. There were a lot of people there I didn’t know, and several ladies asked me for the recipe. I took the email address of one of them, and sent her the recipe an hour or so after lunch. At the end of the day, when I went to retrieve leftovers from the fridge (there weren’t any), I found that she had printed out many copies of the recipe and left them in the break room for others to take. I found this to be such a huge compliment and a testament to how good, surprising, and memorable this cranberry sauce is. Really, the compliment is to my mom, who taught me how to make this.

Cranberry citrus sauce
Recipe by Hillary Huber, modified a little from my mom’s
 
8 servings
 
Ingredients
 
1 small orange, unpeeled and sliced
2 cups orange juice
scant 2 cups sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
24 ounces cranberries
Splash of citrus liqueur (optional- I prefer without, but plenty of others like it better with. Use your best judgement.)
 
Instructions
 
Finely grind orange in a food processor (or chop finely). Combine orange juice, sugar, and lemon juice in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add ground orange and cranberries and cook until berries begin to pop, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Mash up the cranberries with a potato masher. Cool and refrigerate. It will thicken as it chills. Serve cold. Can be prepared up to 4 days ahead.