Turn that leftover cranberry sauce into dessert the next day! This Cranberry Sauce over Pound Cake has cranberry sauce that is combined with apples and pears, made into a chutney and served a la mode over pound cake.
I hope all of you in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. Ours was… interesting, to say the least. We headed out only to have car problems within minutes of getting on the freeway. I’m so glad it was my husband driving and not me, because I would have had no idea what to do!! With a crying baby in the back seat, he was able to coax it to the next exit where luckily there was a gas station open. I fed the baby and he tried to figure out what was wrong with the car – with no luck. We ended up taking the back roads back home, about a mile at a time until the engine would overheat again. Luckily we made it home, but our Thanksgiving feast was not to be had since it was being hosted with family. I’m just thankful that we were all safe, even if Thanksgiving lunch consisted of Twizzlers from the gas station!!
Hopefully your day was a little more traditional than ours, and hopefully you are lucky enough to be swimming in leftovers right now. I knew I wanted to post a leftover recipe today, and I was thrilled to find this delicious compote made from leftover cranberry sauce. I’ll admit – it took me a couple tries of making it to get it just right – just how I envisioned it when I first saw the recipe – but I think I got it. This was such a delicious treat! And as much as I love leftover cranberry sauce on a turkey sandwich the day after Thanksgiving, I think I’d actually save the cranberry sauce for this recipe instead!!
Cranberry Sauce Over Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 medium apples
- 1 pear
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2/3 - 1 cup leftover cranberry sauce
- pound cake slices
- vanilla ice cream
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter.
- Peel and core the apples. Chop into a fine dice and add to the melted butter. Peel and core the pear, fine dice, and add to the apples and the butter. Add in the cinnamon, lemon juice and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and add the cranberry sauce. Return to a boil, then turn the heat back to medium and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Serve the compote over a slice of pound cake and top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Recipe Notes:
More ways to use up that leftover cranberry sauce:
Mini Cranberry Walnut Tarts from Good Life Eats
Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins from Two Peas and Their Pod
Cranberry Sauce Brownies from Confections of a Foodie Bride
Turkey Cranchiladas from Tracey’s Culinary Adventures
Pulled Turkey Sandwiches with Cranberry BBQ Sauce from Pink Parsley
Heather of Kitchen Concoctions says
Oh no! Car troubles are so frustrating! I hope you get it all worked out and it doesn’t cost a fortune. At least you have a memorable story to share one day with Camden about his first Thanksgiving. (PS: This dessert looks heavenly!)
Megan {Country Cleaver} says
Sorry your Turkey day wasn’t what you expected – but hopefully there are still plenty of things to be thankful for! And this cranberry sauce over pound cake sounds like a winner 🙂
Christina @ The Beautiful Balance says
I love that it uses left over cranberry sauce!
Thankful you and your family are okay 🙂
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious says
Glad you guys are safe and made it back home! This sauce looks absolutely sinful though. I’m just about to head to bed but all I can think about is this pound cake!
Annalise says
I can’t believe you spent your Thanksgiving dealing with car troubles, and with a brand new baby! How awful. I hope your long Thanksgiving weekend has improved since then. I love the idea of this dessert, I can’t believe I haven’t thought of it myself. It’s brilliant! And looks so yummy. Please let me know when you’re up for visitors, I so want to see your wee one!
Roxana | Roxana's Home Baking says
oh, so sorry to hear your Thanksgiving didn’t turned out as you hoped Deborah. Glad to hear you all got back home safe. I’m just like you, if the car breaks down and hubby is not the driver I immediately panic 🙁
The cranberry compote sounds great with a slice a cake.
Terra says
Oh man cars can be so frustrating:-( I am glad you made the most of the fun day:-) Love the addition of cranberry sauce on pound cake, it would make alll the flavors amazing! Yum, Hugs, Terra
Jen @ Savory Simple says
Sorry you had a stressful thanksgiving! But the recipe sounds wonderful.
Joanne says
Gah! I’m so sorry to hear about your car troubles but I’m glad you’re all okay! That’s what’s truly important.
This pound cake sounds delicious! So glad I have some cranberries stashed away in the freezer!
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
So sorry your Thanksgiving didn’t turn out the way you expected! Glad you all are ok. What a gorgeous sauce for pound cake!
Averie @ Averie Cooks says
What a nightmare of a day, Deborah – ugh! so sorry this happened to you! Glad you guys are safe but the “even if Thanksgiving lunch consisted of Twizzlers from the gas station!!” — the first year my husband and I were married we were living in a place that we didn’t realize shut down and nothing was open! I thought there would be restaurants open, etc but there weren’t and we literally ate Twizzlers and Pringles from one of very few gas stations open!
Cookin' Canuck says
Deb, I’m so sorry that Thanksgiving didn’t turn out the way you hoped. I’m glad you’re all okay. This dessert is such a great way to use up cranberry sauce (and we have plenty of that).
Christina @ Be Mindful. Be Human. says
Sorry to here about your interesting Thanksgiving. Oh well, at least you were with the people you love the most.
This compote looks delicious. Love the pound cake and ice cream idea combo. Thx.
The Mom Chef ~ Taking on Magazines One Recipe at a Time says
I am so sorry that you missed your Thanksgiving dinner and had to deal with the stress of car trouble instead! That’s a hard way to spend the day. But, like you said, at least everyone was ok and you weren’t stranded on the freeway.
I love the idea of using cranberry sauce for this! I’m not a fan of it by itself, but with what you’ve done, yeah, I could eat it. It looks delicious.
Rosa says
Delicious! That is a lovely dessert.
Cheers,
Rosa