Martha Stewart's Cranberry Butter Is Only 2 Simple Ingredients

One of the most traditional holiday dishes is cranberry sauce, and it's easy to end up with leftovers. If you find yourself with a bunch of leftover cranberry sauce that you don't know what to do with, Martha Stewart has a solution for you: cranberry butter. All you need is cranberry sauce and unsalted butter as well as a food processor (although a blender may work in a pinch).

Here's all you have to do: Combine three sticks of room-temperature unsalted butter and 1½ cups of cranberry sauce and pulse in the food processor until smooth. If you don't want to make as much, you can adjust the amount — the ratio to remember is ½ cup of cranberry sauce per one stick of butter. The end result is a deliciously tart and creamy flavored butter that is sure to impress your dinner guests — after all, not many people will likely have even heard of cranberry butter.

Plus, it's also pretty to look at thanks to its pinkish-red color. Stewart suggests putting the cranberry butter into decorative bowls so that it also serves as a showpiece on the dinner table. It's such a delicious addition to a meal that you may be tempted to buy extra cranberry sauce ahead of the holidays just to include cranberry butter in the feast. But really, the tasty butter can be enjoyed at any time and on any number of food items.

Now that you have a batch of cranberry butter made, what should you use it for? Two dishes that Stewart herself recommends are muffins and cornbread. Traditional cornbread will taste delicious with cranberry butter spread over the top. The tartness of the butter will complement the sweet savoriness of the cornbread. If you're going the muffin route, you may want to opt for a simple English muffin to let the cranberry butter shine. Or, you could whip up a batch of fluffy and moist chocolate chip muffins to bring in some sweetness to match the tartness.

Of course, we don't want to rule out the simple yet tasty option of fresh bread. Any type of bread will work, but we suggest a slice of French bread or sourdough. Or, for a soft and sweet option, you can make some easy homemade focaccia bread. The cranberry butter also works well as an appetizer pairing — it can be spread on crackers or even used as a dip for breadsticks. Any way that you serve it, your guests are guaranteed to remember the unique tastiness of the homemade cranberry butter.