Cranberries are one of the most commonly consumed super foods. For the uninitiated, super foods refer to food items that have a very high density of nutrients. This basically means, you get maximum nutrients for the nourishment of your body from minimum calories. Cranberries are one of those superfoods that are delicious besides being very beneficial for your health. These beautiful, crimson red berries are a rich source of vitamin C, fiber, and phytonutrients. They can potentially reduce the risk of Urinary Tract Infections, improve brain health, fight tooth decay and be good samaritans in your journey of weight loss. Consuming cranberries, whether fresh or dried, has immense health benefits. And we must include these sweet, tangy berries of goodness in our meals more often.
For Indians, sweets form a major part of all of our festivals and celebrations. We have delicious desserts to start every gathering and a sweet treat to end every family get together. Every occasion is a reason for doing what we call, ‘muh meetha karna’. We offer sweets when life offers us new beginnings. Whether it is birthdays, anniversaries or housewarming parties, a box of mithai is all that we need to celebrate. But there is this lingering feeling of cheating on our diet whenever we eat more of those sweets. It is true that desserts come packed with happiness and bliss. But what is also true is their calorie counts make us either guilty of consuming sweets or we stop ourselves from eating to our heart’s content. So, why don’t we find a middle ground? Eat desserts but try to use ingredients that are healthier? And what is better than making a new version of some of our favourite desserts with cranberry? Not just in terms of health benefits, but sweets and cranberries go just right. It enhances the flavours that Indian desserts have and gives its own unique twist to them.
Cranberries are a superfood with many health benefits | Picture credits - Pexels
Infact, the biggest question in this age of fusion cuisine is, why do we not use more cranberries in our Indian desserts? I am sure, a chilled cranberry kheer would taste delectable and a cranberry shrikhand would give a gala time to our taste buds. Preparing desserts with cranberries would not even qualify as being experimental with our beloved desserts. They would just give a face-lift and taste-lift to the sweets that we have been eating for years. What they would also give is beautiful Instagram worthy pictures of our food. If you are still confused about how to include cranberries in your Indian desserts and enhance their flavours, we have a plenty of options for you to choose from. Let us look at some wonderful cranberry dessert recipes that would make you wonder why you weren’t making and eating these before!
Cranberry Kheer
Kheer is the quintessential Indian dessert that is prepared differently with different ingredients all across the country. From jaggery to rose to coconuts to banana – the good old kheer accommodates and appreciates every flavour that is added to it. But what if we attempt to add cranberries to kheer and give it an entirely new twist? Let us look at an easy recipe for Cranberry kheer.
Ingredients
- 500 ml milk
- ¼ th cup rice
- Handful of US cranberries
- ¼ th cup sugar
- Almonds, cashews and raisins for garnish (optional)
Method
- Pour the milk in a pan and bring it to a boil.
- When the milk has thickened, add the rice and let it boil on low flame.
- Keep stirring occasionally so that the rice does not stick to the vessel.
- Add the cranberries after 10 minutes.
- Let the kheer boil till the rice grains turn soft.
- Add the sugar and stir till the granules melt.
- Remove the kheer from heat and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Garnish with dry fruits and serve chilled.
Cranberry Barfi
Ingredients
- 1 ltr milk
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup condensed milk
- ½ cup sugar
- A pinch of saffron
- Ghee
Method
- Bring the milk to boil in a pan.
- When the milk reduces to ¾ its quantity, add the sugar.
- Let the milk thicken and then add the cranberries to it.
- Switch off the flame and mix your cranberries, condensed milk and saffron.
- Grease a tray with ghee, spread your milk mixture evenly and let it cool.
- Cut it into desired shapes and serve your pink cranberry barfis.
Cranberry Shreekhand
Shreekhand is one of the most popular desserts from Maharashtra that is eaten all over the country. It is a filling dessert that is made from strained yoghurt. It is generally made with cardamom and dry fruits. But, how about making shreekhand with cranberries and giving the dessert a whole new essence? We will now look at an easy recipe to see how cranberry shreekhand is totally the dream dessert.
Ingredients
- 2 ltrs plain yoghurt
- 1 tsp Saffron
- 2 tbsps Cold Milk
- 1.25 tsp Green Cardamom powder
- 1/4 cup Pistachios
- 1/4 cup Almonds
- 1/4 cup Cranberries
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Method
- Hang the yogurt in a muslin cloth for 3 hours, drain the whey and reserve.
- Dissolve saffron in the milk and set aside. cut the almonds, pistachios and cranberries into small pieces.
- Take a thick yogurt along with the sugar onto the muslin cloth in small quantities.
- For every cup of thick yogurt, add 3/4 cup of sugar.
- Rub the above mixture firmly over the cloth, till the whole mixture is sieved. Add the dissolved saffron, almonds, cranberries, pistachios and cardamom powder to the sieved mixture.
- Mix well, transfer to a glass bowl and refrigerate till cold. Serve chilled.
These are only some of the Indian desserts that you can amp up with a handful of cranberries. You can also make laddus, halwa and energy balls using cranberries. You can bet that these innovative sweets will look amazing and taste extra ordinary. So, get all your woks, heat up your pans and polish your cutlery – for they are about to help you showcase the most delectable cranberry desserts that you will ever cook, serve and taste.
