Perfect Cranberry Sauce

I'm not a big fan of the canned cranberry sauce.  I mean, it tastes ok, but it's lacking something.  This year for Thanksgiving, I decided to try and make it from scratch, with fresh cranberries.  Oh, I was not disappointed!  This sauce came out so good!  I also love how simple it is.  It truly is the perfect cranberry sauce.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

-1 (12 oz) bag fresh cranberries

-1 cup sugar

-zest from 1 lemon

-2 Tbs water

-extra sugar, salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Reserve 1/2 of cup of cranberries.  Place the rest into a medium saucepan.  Add the 1 cup sugar, lemon zest and the water.  Stir well and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Increase the heat and cook for about 7 minutes.  Add the reserved fresh cranberries and continue cooking for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add a pinch of sugar, some salt and pepper, to taste.  Remove mixture from heat.  Pour into serving bowl and let it cool to room temperature.  Enjoy!