Joy's smooth(ish) cranberry sauce: thermomix

Christmas is closer than you think.

Now, before anyone sighs and mutters and thinks 'not another one', let me explain.  The friend who has been staying with me over the summer on and off, looking after my home so beautifully while I have been away, will be coming back at the beginning of November.  I love cooking, she does not, so she has asked me if, at some point during her stay, I can make her (and her daughter) a Christmas dinner - a real, home made, Christmas dinner.

Of course I said yes.  It sounds like great fun.  It won't be a full roast turkey, of course, but you can get turkey breast, and the rest is a glorified roast dinner.  Or, thinking about it, I might have a rolled turkey breast in the freezer.  I could use that and then exist on the leftovers for the next few weeks.
It will be just after half term when I have time to prepare so I will be getting as much as possible ready beforehand.  Hence this recipe, made out of my head, but nothing original except that I have never used Thermione to make a preserve before.

I like smoothish sauces.  By that I mean no bits but not a clear jelly.  Smooth with texture.
This is what I did.

Ingredients to make one jar of the Bonne Maman size.
200g frozen cranberries (I'd use fresh but they're not in the shops right now)
1 eating apple, washed, any bad bits cut off (and I also remove the stalk and the blossom bit too), chopped.  No need to peel and core.
100ml (which is 100g weight) water
juice of half an orange and half a lemon
sugar (I used granulated)

Method:
Place the chopped apple and the cranberries, the orange and lemon juices (no need to thaw them) into the bowl and add a MCful of water (that's 100mls).  At this point you could also add spices.  I didn't, not this time, but cinnamon, mixed spice or star anise all would go very well.

Cook the fruit (and spices, if using) on 100 for around ten minutes on a slowish reverse speed, about 1/2 - reverse so that if you're using whole spices they won't get chopped to bits.  When that has finished, check that the fruit is soft and mushy, take out any whole spices and blitz for around 10 seconds on speed 6.

Remove the lid very carefully (it is hot!) and pour the lot into a fine sieve over a bowl.  Push the fruit through and discard what is left in the sieve.
(then put the sieve straight into a bowl of hot and soapy water because if you let it cool it will be the very devil to clean)
Now add the sugar.  To be honest, I didn't measure it, I just stirred some in and tasted, stirred more in and tasted, until it was 'right'.  As the mixture is hot, the sugar will dissolve quickly.

Pour the mixture back into the thermomix bowl. (I rinsed it out in between but I don't think you actually have to, it w3as just automatic to put it straight into water)
Put a saucer in the fridge if you use that method to check for set.

Cook on Varoma heat, reverse speed 2 for around 6 minutes, then check for set, removing the bowl from the base as you check.  If not set, cook for a couple more minutes and try again.  If adding alcohol (e.g. port), add it after setting and give the mixture a few more seconds of stirring.

Pour into a clean, warm jar and seal.  Don't forget to label the jar when it has cooled.  Keep in a cool, dark place (I will keep it in the fridge)

Not my photo but it will look like this.

PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL.  

BOILING JAM IS EXTREMELY HOT AND HURTS IF YOU SPLASH SOME ON YOUR HAND.