If you’ve tried to find unsweetened or sugar-free dried cranberries you know how expensive they are. It’s ridiculous to pay so much more just to avoid sugar, so don’t do it.

Fresh cranberries are a steal just after the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter holidays, and drying them yourself is easy as can be. Stock up during these seasonal sales and you’ll never pay those crazy online or specialty food market prices again.

Sugar-Free Dried Cranberries

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Unsweetened and sugar-free dried cranberries for a fraction of the store prices. 

• Total Time: 18 minutes

Ingredients

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• 1 12-oz package fresh cranberries
• 1/3 cup Swerve Confectioners Sweetener (omit for unsweetened version)
• 2 tbsp avocado oil

Instructions

1. Position racks on top two levels and preheat oven to 200 degrees F and line two large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Place a colander in the sink and add the cranberries. Rinse thoroughly under cold water and remove any really soft ones. Spread paper towel or a clean kitchen towel on the counter by the sink and transfer rinsed berries to the towel (we want to minimize moisture).
3. on a cutting board, slice the cranberries in half (long or short, doesn’t matter). Toss the halved cranberries back into the colander. When all cranberries have been cut, shake the colander to sift out as many of the the seeds as possible. 
4. Transfer the berries to a large bowl, drizzle with avocado oil, and toss to coat. If you want sweetened berries, add Swerve Confectioners and toss again to coat evenly.
5. Transfer berries to prepared baking sheets and arrange in a single layer with as much space in between as possible.
6. Place both baking sheets in oven and allow the berries to dry for 1 1/2 hours, then rotate pans and switch racks. Dry another 1 1/2 hours and remove a few berries from each pan and cool. The berries will still be a bit wet when hot but should dry up once cooled. If they need more time, continue to dry up to another 1 1/2 hours. Don’t try to turn up to 250 degrees, they’ll burn.  
7. Cool completely on trays then refrigerate in an airtight container. 

Notes

Keeps in refrigerator up to 2 weeks. 

To freeze, refrigerate overnight then transfer to zip top bags and remove as much air as possible. If you have a food sealer, even better. As long as they are airtight, these can remain frozen for 2-3 months. 

• Author: Fresh. Out.
• Prep Time: 15
• Cook Time: 3
• Category: Snacks, dessert, dried fruit
• Method: Oven drying

Keywords: dried cranberries, sugar-free, unsweetened

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