Cranberry-Maple Jelly

Next up in my controversial line-up of Thanksgiving dishes—in order of least successful to most successful—is this festive, misshapen cranberry-maple jelly.

How did this wobbly, barely-a-side-dish food beat out the savory bread pudding, you ask. Most likely because it exceeded expectations. When I first set out to make it, I saw it as a novelty dish. My grandma always makes some sort of cranberry-Jello salad, so I thought it should be on the table. But, as it turns out, there's a whole lot to love about this jelly.

First off, it's a dish that only calls for four main ingredients: cranberries, maple syrup, sugar, and gelatin. Secondly, it is beautiful, even if we loosened it too much with too hot of water (read: simmering) when we were unmolding it. And lastly, it's like an oasis of tartness in a desert of umami-flavors on your Thanksgiving plate.

Of course, no Martha Stewart recipe is complete without its many issues. Namely, it calls for a ton of cranberries (I stopped filling my bag at 2 1/2 pounds.) and a whole lot of maple syrup too (I stopped at 3/4 cup, but only because that was all we had left in our tiny bottle.) But the real issue I took with this recipe is that it has you straining all of the cranberry juice out of the cranberries and then throwing away the pulp. I mean, at the very least, shouldn't there be a little note in the recipe with ideas on how to use the pulp? Like say, I don't know, in a batch of cranberry-walnut muffins or something? I added some back into the cranberry-maple mixture, but still have a bunch more in the fridge. So if you guys have any ideas, please, spill 'em.

And now to put my verdict in terms you kids can understand. This jelly's written-out emoji score? Two thumbs up, one heart, one older woman (to connote that my grandma likes to make this sort of dish), and one astonished face (because of all the unused pulp.)

See you soon with dish no. 3!

Cranberry-Maple Jelly adapted from Martha Stewart Living

(My adaptation basically makes for a less sweet jelly, which I appreciated. If you think you'd like a sweeter jelly, by all means, go for the extra half cup of sugar and the full 1 3/4 cups of maple syrup.)

Vegetable oil, for mold

40 ounces fresh or thawed frozen cranberries
1 cup sugar
3 1/2 cups water, divided, plus more if needed
3/4 cup grade A pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons unflavored powdered gelatin

Lightly oil mold. Bring cranberries, sugar, and 3 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan, then reduce heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until cranberries burst and are completely softened, about 10 minutes. Pour through a fine sieve set over a bowl, pressing very firmly on solids to release as much juice as possible (you should have 4 cups; if not, add water to make 4 cups). Skim any foam from surface. Stir in maple syrup.

Transfer 1 cup cranberry liquid to a clean saucepan, and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup water in a small bowl, and let soften 1 minute. Stir gelatin mixture into hot liquid until gelatin dissolves completely. Pour cranberry-gelatin mixture into cranberry-maple mixture, and stir to combine. Place bowl in a larger bowl of ice water. Let cool, stirring occasionally, until cool to the touch and beginning to thicken, about 15 minutes. Pour mixture into mold (Feel free to some spoonfuls of the cranberry pulp here too. I did!), and refrigerate until set, at least 8 hours and up to 2 days.

To unmold, dip top of mold into a bowl of hot tap water 30 seconds, then run a thin-bladed knife around edge to loosen. Place a serving platter on bottom of mold, and quickly invert. Tap to release, and remove mold. (If jelly doesn't release easily, return to hot water for a few seconds.)