How to make the gorgeous, versatile garnish

These sugar-covered cranberries make a pretty red garnish on your favorite dessert or baked goods — like cheesecake, coffee cake, holiday fruitcake and fruit tarts or pies. But they can also do so much more! Some examples:

• Adorn your cheese ball or cheese board
• Cheesecake or cake topper
• Add to a Pavlova wreath for Christmas
• Fruit pie topper, use in custard pie
• Drop them on to pancakes/French toast/crepes
• Top Camembert or Brie cheese
• Garnish a bowl of cranberry sauce
• Top ice cream
• On top of oatmeal
• Holiday fruitcake topper
• Serve them up with muffins or mini loaves of cranberry bread
• Garnish custard, parfait or pots de creme
• Use as a garnish for your roast turkey or served atop a savory pork roast
• Add them to a cracker topped with a smear of cream cheese and a dollop of cranberry sauce for an elegant appetizer

They are also the perfect accompaniment to cocktails. Drop them in, or line them up — like on a skewer, umbrella, tiny sword or toothpick — and they become a great burst of color and flavor when added to a chilled bubbly beverage, a hot mug of cider or mulled wine, floating atop a pitcher of sangria, or on a punch with some orange slices.

Feel free to experiment a little with your berries. While most of us have granulated sugar on hand, you can also try out different types of sugar depending upon the effect you want. Cane sugar or sanding sugar have a larger grains that will create a more sparkly coating, while superfine caster sugar creates berries that look like they have a light layer of winter frost coating them.