Vanilla Bean and Fresh Cranberry Butter

Rich vanilla beans and local honey adds sweetness to these tart little berries, making this Vanilla Bean and Fresh Cranberry Butter just perfect for Fall. Enjoy with some plain yogurt, in your morning oatmeal, on toast, or on top of some fresh pumpkin waffles.

Fresh cranberries are great for baking as they add a little bit of sweetness and a gorgeous color! Try using cranberries in this Cranberry and Honey Cornbread Muffin or this Clove and Cranberry Apple Sauce in the Instant Pot.

Vanilla Bean and Fresh Cranberry Butter

I love making all kinds of fruit butter with seasonal fruit!

In summer, we devoured heaps of this homemade Lemon Curd and Peach Butter, and now that Fall is here, we have been enjoying this Vanilla Bean and Fresh Cranberry Butter with everything.

Homemade fruit butter is so easy to make, and really takes advantage of the natural sweetness of in-season fruit.

Fresh cranberries are naturally quite a tart fruit, but the addition of honey and vanilla bean here really draws out the sweetness and offsets that tart flavor that can be a bit overwhelming.

You can try vanilla extract if you don’t have vanilla bean paste on hand (or it is super expensive where you are), but if you can get your hands on the bean paste then do yourself a favor and use that.

Seriously worth a little splurge.

A Note On Ingredients

Cranberries

You want to use fresh or frozen whole cranberries for this recipe, not dried cranberries.

Fresh cranberries can be found in the fruit and veg section of a well stocked supermarket in Fall/autumn.

Frozen cranberries can be found in the frozen fruit section, although these can tend to be seasonal as well.

If you do end up using dried cranberries, they are more often than not already sweetened, so you will need to adjust the added honey so as not to end up with an overly sweet butter.

Vanilla Bean Paste

Vanilla bean paste is a lot more expensive that vanilla extract or vanilla essense.

The flavour is a lot more luxurious, and definitely worth the little splurge to really balance out the flavour in this cranberry butter.

In a pinch, you can get away with vanilla extract.

What To Do With Fresh Cranberry Butter: How To Serve Up

This spread is super versatile, try out some of these options for serving up:

• spread on toast;
• spread on top of some waffles with a dollop of yogurt and some slices of banana (this is what we will be having for our Thanksgiving breakfast this year);
• dollop on top of some pancakes;
• pair with some vanilla ice cream or plain yogurt;
• enjoy on top of your warm morning oats;
• or add to overnight oats for a great pop of color.

Simply use homemade cranberry honey butter anywhere you would normally use a jam or other similar spread.

If you are looking for something to try with your Thanksgiving turkey, then give this fresh cranberry sauce a whirl instead.

How To Store Cranberry Butter

Vanilla bean and cranberry butter keeps well stored in the fridge for about 3 weeks if it is kept in an airtight container.

You will need to give it a good stir when you remove it from the fridge, as it takes on a jammy consistency, and can get quite thick.

Cranberry butter also freezes really well!

I tend to make a big batch and freeze a couple of jars so I can still satisfy my cranberry fix when the season is done.

Just make sure you leave some headspace in the container you will be freezing the cranberry butter in to allow for expansion, this is especially important if you will be storing it in a glass jar with a lid, we don't want any cracked glass!

More Recipes For Using Fresh Cranberries

If you love baking with fresh cranberries, or you have some leftover cranberries from your Holiday cooking then you might want to check out these recipes:

• Pumpkin and Fresh Cranberry Bread
• Orange and Fresh Cranberry Smoothie
• Cranberry and cornbread mini muffins
• Clove and Cranberry Apple Sauce.
• Slow Cooked Cranberry Apple Cider.

Are you a fan of fresh cranberries?

I would love to know what you think of this cranberry and vanilla bean butter. Be sure to leave a comment, like on Facebook, tweet on Twitter, or pin to Pinterest for later.

Happy eating.

xx

Recipe

Vanilla Bean and Fresh Cranberry Butter

Whole Food Bellies

Rich vanilla beans and local honey adds a sweetness to these tart little berries, which is just perfect for fall. Enjoy with some plain yogurt, in your morning oatmeal, on toast, or atop some fresh pumpkin waffles.

4.92 from 12 votes

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Prep Time 2 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 32 minutes mins

Course Snack

Cuisine Sweet

Servings 2 jars

Calories 20 kcal

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Ingredients

  

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• 1 bag cranberries about 3 cups
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

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Instructions

 

• Add all ingredients to a small saucepan on medium heat. While continuously stirring, bring to a bubbling simmer and reduce heat to low
• Continue to cook on low until the cranberries have completely broken down, and the mixture resembles a thick jam/butter. This should take about half an hour. Be sure to regularly stir or the honey can stick to the bottom and burn
• One desired consistency is reached, remove from heat and allow to cool. Transfer into glass jars with lids. Store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks, or in the freezer for a couple of months

Notes

Store in the fridge in an airtight container for about 3 weeks.

Can be stored in the freezer for about 3 months in an airtight container.

Recipe

 

Nutrition

Calories: 20kcalCarbohydrates: 4.9gFiber: 0.3gSugar: 4.3g

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment HERE and let us know how it was!

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

This post has been updated from the original October 2015 post to provide readers with more information.