Cranberry Sauce with Port and Cinnamon

I am a huge fan of cranberry sauce: the real stuff, not the stuff in the can! I found this recipe a few years ago, and I love the combination of dried and fresh cranberries, along with the mild flavor of the port. It's a nice twist on the classic version if you want to try something new! This year I had a mixture of dried cherries and cranberries in my cabinet, so I decided to try it with dried cherries as well. It's awesome! It adds that tart-sweet taste that I love about cherries, but still very much my beloved cranberry sauce.

RECIPE: Cranberry Sauce with Port and Cinnamon
adapted from Bon Appetit, November 2007
makes about 2.5 cups

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup ruby Port
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
1 cup dried cranberries (or half cranberries/half cherries), about 6 ounces
1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries
1/4 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS:
Bring ruby Port and broken cinnamon sticks to a boil in a heavy medium saucepan. Reduce heat to medium and simmer mixture for 5 minutes.

Add dried cranberries to saucepan; simmer until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add fresh cranberries, 3/4 cup water, and sugar; bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissovles. Reduce heat to medium low; cover and simmer until cranberry sauce thickens and is darker in color and berrries collapse, stirring often, about 20 minutes. Transfer sauce to bowl; cool. Discard cinnamon sticks. This can be made several days in advance. Cover and chill, bring to desired temperature before serving.