It’s just not Christmas without cranberries, right? No holiday meal table is complete without a big bowl of them … bright-white and crunchy?
Well, they may not replace your traditional bowl of the more familiar, redder than red sauce, but TikTok’s favorite holiday snack this year is Erica Kuiper’s snappy candied cranberries.
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’ve 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’s recipe for candied cranberries soaked in Champagne or prosecco.
Kuiper feels her hardworking grandmother was a chef at heart. “She loved sharing recipes from her own childhood, dishes that became staples in my kitchen and later in Morgan’s … She and my grandfather owned a jewelry store in Brooklyn, New York, and they made a point to include us in every part of their lives.”
“Tradition and culture meant everything to them,” explains Kuiper, “and those things always come to life in the kitchen — hence the cranberries.”
It’s not just Kuiper’s 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’s called klyukva v sakhare. In Belarus, it’s practically a mascot — 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’s favorite snack. During the Soviet era, the candied berries were sold seasonally in cardboard boxes, although that version was dipped in sugar syrup for coating, rather than juice or soda.
Grandma Lillian liked things done her way, though, Kuiper remembers fondly. “You never questioned her; she was far too confident for that.”
Lillian’s Depression-era cooking was simple, but it made an impression on her family. “She could create magic out of almost nothing,” says Kuiper, “We’d make a big batch and play cards while they came together.”
After reading lots of comments from lovers and haters over the last few years, Kuiper has some tips for success.
It’s 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 “off” flavors reminiscent of soap or floral perfume, so she suggests organic, which is more likely to be cut with tapioca starch.
Or, you could do as Grandma Lillian did and grind your own!
Regardless of the sugar you choose, add plenty of it so that every berry is fully coated and bake just for a couple of minutes to dry the coating without cooking the berries. Once they’re done, says Kuiper, you can store them covered and refrigerated for up to four days.
I can’t wait to get cracking! Let’s try out Grandma Lillian’s recipe, with Kuiper’s tips for the best pop.
I’ve got apple cider and Sprite, as with another of Kuiper’s recent videos, but it might be fun to try infusing ginger slices or a rosemary sprig, too. It’s a simple ingredient list, rounded out with just cranberries (carefully scanned for squishy rejects) and powdered sugar (cornstarch free, of course).
I decided to take one for the team and eat a plain, uncandied cranberry to see how much of a popping sound they’d make, and it was barely a whisper. The extremely bitter-tart flavor made me want to scream, though. It’s hard to believe these will live up to their banging reputation.
I’ve 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’t 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. If there are a lot of berries with sticky or translucent sugar patches, she says, add more.
I was surprised that it took so little shaking, less than 15 seconds’ worth. I’m glad I didn’t go longer, because a few of them had spots where the sugar had been knocked off after coating.
Now, for drying. It’s a relatively cool oven and a very brief bake time, because all you’re trying to do is dry out the sugar a bit. You don’t want the cranberries to heat much, because they are literally ready to pop. If they start to steam even a little, they’ll burst and ruin the effect.
I tried a couple just out of the oven, and while they were delicious, the snapping sound still wasn’t 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’re crispy and sweet, with bright flashes of tartness shining through the candy shell. There’s a beautiful bitter note at the end, just enough for interest. I did not detect any soapy or floral taste. I did, however, crave them by the handful. There’s something about that crunch, reminiscent of Pringles or M&Ms, that made me want more and more.
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’s 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. Still, I suggest attaching a label to the jars or serving with some fresh, uncandied berries nestled below, to offer tasters a clue that what they’re about to pop in their mouths has a snappy little secret. Anyone expecting a Jordan almond might faint dead away.
As for Kuiper, she’s happy to report that she has a whole cookbook of her grandmother’s recipes and plans to share more on social media in days to come. “She was a powerhouse in our family,” she says, “and we love bonding over recipes that she loved.”
