Forget Turkey Day cranberry sauce, we’ve got a better idea

Cranberry sauce is sort of like the candy corn of Thanksgiving. No one really likes it. Ok, some people like it. But, mostly, it’s there because it has to be! It’s decorative. It’s a staple. And, in dire circumstances, it’s edible. Now, I’m not talking about cranberry as a seasonal ingredient, I’m talking about the canned stuff that keeps its cylindrical shape on butter dishes on that fateful Thursday in November.

If you want to put the cranberry sauce to good use this year, I have a boozy solution for you — cranberry vodka cupcakes! Finally, cranberry sauce is delicious and useful!

Ingredients

1/2 cup canned cranberry

1 1/2 cups flour, 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup cake flour, sifted

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup vodka

1 large egg and 2 large egg whites, room temperature

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

Sprinkle nutmeg

Steps

Combine flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.

Cream butter, yogurt and sugar, slowly add in eggs and extract.

Slowly blend in vodka and cranberry. Then dry ingredients and a sprinkle of nutmeg.

Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 in lined cupcake pan.

Allow to cool and add icing.

Cranberry Buttercream Instructions

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 cups confectioner’s (powdered) sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

1 tablespoon flavoring extract, vanilla or almond

2 tablespoons milk

Mix it all together!

I then garnished my cupcakes with crumbled walnut (optional)

Happy Thanksgiving!