Mini Cranberry Meatballs

By Tom421

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cranberries, or dried if fresh is unavailable
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chipotle pepper sauce
• 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 pounds ground round
• Sweet-Hot Dipping Sauce, recipe follows
• One 12-ounce jar red currant jelly
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 3/4 teaspoon orange zest
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons minced shallot
• 1 teaspoon chipotle pepper sauce
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

Details

Servings 40
Preparation time 25mins
Cooking time 50mins
Adapted from foodnetwork.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray the rack of a broiler pan with nonstick cooking spray; place in an aluminum foil-lined broiler pan.

In a large bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, cranberries, tomato paste, mustard, oil, chipotle pepper sauce, dried oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, garlic and egg. Add the ground round and mix together. Shape the mixture into forty 1-inch meatballs. Place the meatballs on the prepared rack in pan. Bake until done, 15 minutes. Serve with Sweet-Hot Dipping Sauce.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the jelly, orange juice and zest, mustard, shallots, chipotle sauce and ginger. Bring the jelly mixture to a boil.

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and 2 1/2 teaspoons water; add to the jelly mixture, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Serve warm with meatballs. Yield: 1 1/2 cups.