Best-Ever Cranberry Recipes for Thanksgiving

This cranberry sauce recipe is scented with star anise, which has a dynamic flavor--earthy, spicy and sweet at the same time.

This healthy custard pie recipe combines the flavors of gingerbread and eggnog into a festive holiday dessert. An easy cranberry sauce balances the sweetness of the pie with a touch of tartness. To lighten the load of holiday baking, each element can be prepared up to 5 days ahead.

This cranberry-pecan cinnamon roll recipe is a cinch to put together--there's no kneading and no rolling of any dough. These rolls are baked in a muffin tin and are already perfectly portioned, making them great for a morning treat or as part of a brunch menu.

This rustic cake is a delicious alternative to pie and uses one of the tastiest fruits of the fall harvest--cranberries. The basic recipe is very versatile and can be made with apples, pears, peaches, plums or any full-flavored, slightly acidic fruit. Just arrange the fruit in the skillet before you pour the batter over it. The cake is best served warm; if you can, put it in the oven just before you sit down to dinner. Recipe adapted from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters.

Fresh cranberries get crunch from walnuts and an infusion of sweetness from dried cherries in this take on a classic marmalade. Leftovers are great on a turkey sandwich.

No other dessert turns heads like a trifle. Festive in every way, this trifle recipe glows from within with scarlet layers of juicy cranberries. The filling is made from an astounding 6 cups of antioxidant-packed cranberries! We made the custard “skinny” with a combination of low-fat milk and light coconut milk. From-scratch brown-butter sponge cake, made with whole-wheat pastry flour, stands in for store-bought ladyfingers.

These lemony cranberry-studded muffins crunch lightly with cornmeal and are topped with a kiss of sugared lemon zest. They're great warm from the oven, but also keep well for a few days and freeze beautifully.

If you're a fan of lemon meringue pie, you'll love this festive cranberry meringue pie recipe. For the fluffiest meringue, set your eggs out at room temperature for about 15 minutes or submerge (in the shell) in a bowl of lukewarm water for 5 minutes before beating--egg whites at room temperature will gain more volume than cold whites.

This quick and healthy turkey cutlet recipe delivers a taste of Thanksgiving in just 40 minutes start to finish. Serve with wild rice pilaf and steamed green beans.

Give some zing to your traditional cranberry sauce recipe by adding jalapeño and lime. This healthy, homemade cranberry relish pairs beautifully with turkey, but also works just as well as a spread for sandwiches or even as a taco topping.

This ultimate fall and winter tart showcases the best fruits of the season: pears, apples and cranberries. Unlike other tarts, the tarte tatin is made upside down in a skillet. You start by cooking the fruit, then top it with the dough, carefully tuck in the edges and let it cook. When it's ready you invert the whole tart onto a plate. It comes out looking beautiful and is actually much easier than you might imagine.

One bite of this light and airy cranberry-lime cheesecake recipe and it will become your go-to recipe for dessert. Part-skim ricotta cheese adds a delicate texture and stands in for some of the higher-fat cream cheese. Be sure to use a large, wide piece of heavy-duty foil to wrap the pan--the foil helps prevent water from seeping into the cake as it bakes.

This pretty pumpkin-cranberry Bundt cake is a delicious alternative to holiday pumpkin pie.

Orange juice and fresh orange segments brighten the flavors in this traditional cranberry sauce recipe. Spread the leftovers on a turkey sandwich or stir into plain yogurt for breakfast.

Crisp, moist and chewy, this cookie created by Georgene Egri of Walnut Creek, California, has the essential ingredients for the holidays: citrus, nuts and cranberries. These cookies travel well for gift-giving and lunchboxes.

Take a detour from traditional cranberry sauce and try this recipe that combines fresh cranberries with sweet dates, sage and orange. You can make this no-cook cranberry relish in less than a minute in the food processor. It's a divine accompaniment to roast turkey and perfect on a turkey sandwich as well.

In this healthy cranberry-walnut Bundt cake recipe, Greek yogurt and shredded apple or pear keep the cake moist and are a healthy substitute for extra butter. If you want to use something other than allspice, try pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon in the filling. For a nut-free variation, omit the walnuts in the cake or use chopped dried cranberries in their place.

Grated winter squash, such as butternut or acorn, adds a bit of sweetness and keeps these tender muffins moist in this easy recipe. Shredded zucchini is a good substitute in summertime.

Start your day off right with these easy pancakes, packed with cranberry's sour spike. One of you can make the coffee and heat the maple syrup while the other makes the pancakes. It's instant relationship bliss.

In this healthy bread pudding recipe, whole-wheat bread, fresh cranberries, candied ginger and toasted coconut come together for a memorable dessert. To make individual bread puddings instead of one large pan, divide the batter among 12 small oiled individual baking dishes (about 8 ounces each). Cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes, uncover, sprinkle with coconut and bake for 20 to 25 minutes more.

This cranberry-rosemary stuffed pork tenderloin recipe looks gorgeous with the cranberry- and rosemary-flecked stuffing bursting from the juicy browned pork loin. Don't be scared by the task of double butterflying a pork loin--the process is fairly simple.

This healthy French toast recipe is fragrant with vanilla and spiced with cardamom. Paired with a sweet-tart pear-cranberry sauce, it's a delicious way to use any bread that has gotten a little stale. Look for dried lemon peel (for the compote) in the spice section of well-stocked supermarkets or use lemon zest.

These sweet-tart cranberry-orange bars are a great addition to a holiday cookie tray or cool weather grab-and-go treat.

A fruit crisp offers the luscious flavor of a fresh fruit pie without the fuss of making a crust. Celebrate the arrival of fall with this apple-cranberry crisp. The nut-studded topping works great with other fruit combinations too.