It\u2019s just not Christmas without cranberries, right? No holiday meal table is complete without a big bowl of them \u2026 bright-white and crunchy? Well, they may not replace your traditional bowl of the more familiar, redder than red sauce, but TikTok\u2019s favorite holiday snack this year is Erica Kuiper\u2019s snappy candied cranberries.<\/p>\n
\u2b50\ufe0fCANDIED CRANBERRIES\u2b50\ufe0f \ud83c\udf52 Grandma Lillian\u2019s Candied Cranberries (the OG way) Sweet, tart, sparkly, and a total holiday show-stopper. This is Grandma Lillian\u2019s original recipe, and it\u2019s as simple as it is perfect. <\/p>\n
\u2022 1 bag of fresh cranberries
\n\u2022 Apple cider
\n\u2022 Sprite
\n\u2022 Powdered sugar (organic if possible)<\/p>\n
1\ufe0f\u20e3 Wash and pat dry your cranberries, removing any soft ones.
\n2\ufe0f\u20e3 In a medium bowl, pour in equal parts apple cider and sprite
\n3\ufe0f\u20e3 Add the cranberries and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.
\n4\ufe0f\u20e3 Strain and move to a clean bowl.
\n5\ufe0f\u20e3 Add a generous amount of powdered sugar and shake until each berry is coated. If they\u2019re sticky, add a little more powdered sugar.
\n6\ufe0f\u20e3 Preheat the oven to 200\u00b0F.
\n7\ufe0f\u20e3 Bake for 5 minutes to help dry out the sugar coating.
\n8\ufe0f\u20e3 Leave them on the counter for a few hours to finish drying
\n9\ufe0f\u20e3 Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for 12 hours. They\u2019re best served chilled. (They will be good for 4-5 days)<\/p>\n
Kuiper and her daughter Morgan sort and soak a huge bowl of cranberries in juice and soda, and then shake them to coat in powdered sugar. Once dried and chilled, they\u2019ve got a snap you can almost feel through the screen. The recipe has been making the rounds on social media since 2020, but it seems to have really blown up this year, with over 3.5 million views for the above video alone. It originated from her Russian Grandma Lillian\u2019s recipe for candied cranberries soaked in Champagne or prosecco.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just Kuiper\u2019s family, although she is certainly the one popularizing this dish in the states. The basic recipe is hugely popular in some Slavic countries, including Russia, where it\u2019s called klyukva v sakhare. In Belarus, it\u2019s practically a mascot \u2014 one factory there processes up to 35 tons per year. Although the varieties of cranberries used are slightly different from the American species, candy-coating these berries has been a tradition for more than a century, and by some reports constituted poet Alexander Pushkin\u2019s favorite snack.<\/p>\n
After reading lots of comments from lovers and haters over the last few years, Kuiper has some tips for success. It\u2019s critical to screen your fruit for any soft berries, which would affect both flavor and texture. She has also discovered that brands of powdered sugar with cornstarch as an ingredient seem to cause \u201coff\u201d flavors reminiscent of soap or floral perfume, so she suggests organic, which is more likely to be cut with tapioca starch.<\/p>\n
I decided to take one for the team and eat a plain, uncandied cranberry to see how much of a popping sound they\u2019d make, and it was barely a whisper. The extremely bitter-tart flavor made me want to scream, though. I\u2019ve soaked them in the liquids for 24 hours, and I even sealed them tightly and weighted them down with a plate for maximum soakiness. They smell great! I was almost sad to drain off the cider-y Sprite but flat soda isn\u2019t my idea of fun. Next, I dumped in a bunch of powdered sugar the way Kuiper demonstrates. How much? Too much. The berries must be fully coated with no red showing for maximum pop.<\/p>\n
I tried a couple just out of the oven, and while they were delicious, the snapping sound still wasn\u2019t very prominent, and I was a bit worried. An hour of chilling in the fridge, though, and I was rewarded with a serious snap every time. They\u2019re crispy and sweet, with bright flashes of tartness shining through the candy shell. There\u2019s a beautiful bitter note at the end, just enough for interest.<\/p>\n
Unlike those snacks, these little candies offer tons of fiber, vitamin C and antioxidants to balance out the carbs a bit. I made myself stretch the supply for a few days to test out the Kuiper\u2019s storage suggestion, and they were just as delicious and poppy on day four as they were on day one. By day five, some of the coating popped off, but I doubt they will last that long in most households. Kuiper suggests filling mMon jars for gifts, and they look great in a bowl, too.<\/p>\n
A: The recipe originated from Erica Kuiper\u2019s Russian Grandma Lillian\u2019s recipe for candied cranberries soaked in Champagne or prosecco.<\/p>\n
A: The ingredients needed are fresh cranberries, apple cider, Sprite, and powdered sugar (organic if possible).<\/p>\n
A: They will be good for 4-5 days when stored in an airtight container and refrigerated.<\/p>\n
A: No, it\u2019s recommended to use organic powdered sugar, as some brands with cornstarch can cause \u201coff\u201d flavors.<\/p>\n
A: Candy-coating cranberries has been a tradition for more than a century in some Slavic countries, including Russia and Belarus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to Candied Cranberries It\u2019s just not Christmas without cranberries, right? No holiday meal table is complete without a big bowl of them \u2026 bright-white and crunchy? Well, they may not replace your traditional bowl of the more familiar, redder than red sauce, but TikTok\u2019s favorite holiday snack this year is Erica Kuiper\u2019s snappy candied […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":26829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-26827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dining"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/media.nbcnewyork.com\/2025\/12\/cranberries.png?resize=1200%2C675&quality=85&strip=all&w=1199&resize=1199,675&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26830,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26827\/revisions\/26830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}