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Dessert

Cranberry Filling

A sweet filling made from cooked cranberries, sugar, and butter, used between layers of shortcake.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 98,233 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Cranberry Filling

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Wash and pick over the cranberries.

  2. Cook the cranberries in a saucepan with enough water to cover them over medium heat.

  3. Mash the cooked cranberries through a colander.

  4. Add sugar to the mashed cranberries until very sweet.

  5. Return the mixture to the heat until the sugar is fully dissolved.

Assemble

  1. Butter shortcake liberally.

  2. Spread the cranberry filling between layers and on top.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fresh cranberries
Provide the tart fruit base and the pectin that thickens the mashed filling as it cooks.
Sugar
Sweetens the tart cranberries and helps create a glossy, spreadable texture.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the shortcake layers it is spread on.

The step that matters

Return the mixture to the heat until the sugar is fully dissolved. Sugar dissolves best while the mixture is hot, so heating it fully prevents grainy texture in the filling. Stirring gently keeps the cranberry mash from scorching on the bottom of the pan.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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