Ever wondered what to do with that container of ruby jelly after the main Thanksgiving festivities are over and you’re looking at all of the leftovers in your fridge with some trepidation? Well say no more!

Below are eight hand-picked recipes from various web sources that I have arbitrarily deemed to be the best use of cranberry sauce in a dessert. And, judging by the lovely photographs of the final products (all rights to the recipe creators), I’m really looking forward to trying several of these recipes when I once again have leftover crans looking for a worthwhile home. However, being a Canadian, I’m going to have to wait until Christmas until my next opportunity (booo!)

Cranberry Sauce Muffins: This recipe from always-wonderful Serious Eats is called “Morning-After Cranberry Sauce Muffins“, and they look awesome! I Can’t Wait to try these myself.

Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies: At Sunset, they’ve whipped up a scrumptious batch of Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies. What a delicious way to get your fruit intake!

Cranberry Sauce Smoothie: At Recipe Runner, this Cranberry Sauce Smoothie is both a great way to get rid of that leftover cranberry sauce, but also a good way to detox from the overindulgence of the traditional Thanksgiving overeating.

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread: The delightful images of this incredible Classic Pumpkin Cranberry Bread with Orange Glaze from One Hot Oven look good enough to take right off the screen!

Cranberry Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing: this glorious cake from Patience Fruit & Co. makes me so happy to look at; I’m definitely going to make this myself soon. Check out their Cranberry Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing; to substitute their delicious cranberry ingredient, use the equivalent amount of leftover cranberry sauce and add it to the wet ingredients before folding in the dry ingredients. I make this vow; I will bake this cake soon, photograph it and write a post about it giving you my honest review. I want to make it now….yummmm…

Cranberry Lemon Swirl Tart: this tart from the visually lovely Buttermilk website is gorgeous and looks much more challenging to make than it truly is. A fantastic hostess dessert that really wows your guests, this Cranberry Lemon Swirl Tart is slightly cheating from the “Thanksgiving Leftovers” theme as it uses fresh cranberries, not the sauce. I stand by it, though, because who hasn’t purchased one too many bags of fresh cranberries in anticipation of Thanksgiving? Just me? Hmmm…

Cranberry Oatmeal Bars: At the Cook The Story blog, check out this great recipe for delicious-looking and super-easy Cranberry Oatmeal Bars that will help you clean up those leftovers quickly!

Cranberry Coffee Cake: last but certainly not least, at website Garlic and Zest, this Cranberry Coffee Cake claims to be super-moist and a frugal use of leftover cranberry sauce. With the lovely white chocolate glaze and moist spiced cranberry filling, what’s not to love?

I hope that these yummy recipes inspire you to make something out of your anticipated cranberry sauce leftovers…or maybe even make extra cranberry sauce in advance “just because”, so you’re sure to have enough to make one or more of these delicious re-imaginings!

Please feel free to comment if you do end up making one of these recipes (and while you’re at it, give a shout-out to the content originators!); pictures of your creations are always appreciated as well.

Happy (American) Thanksgiving!