This recipe stems from my mothers own quintessential holiday recipe. I remember as a kid, that she’d always cook up these sweet and sour meatballs and bring them along to the company holiday, picnic, gathering, etc. I don’t really know what it’s called, but she’d bring along a large rectangular electric wok-like pan. She’d fill it with her saucy meatballs and plug it in. She’d then plunk down a bunch of thick wooden toothpicks and wait for the meaty little orbs to heat back up!

I remember sitting next to the pan, bored and dreading the holiday company gathering, and I’d quietly eat all the meatballs, while no one was looking. To this day, I don’t really know what she did, but they were juicy and sweet! I’m assuming they were meatballs floating in a mixture of ketchup and grape jelly, but I cannot recall. Whatever they were, they were delicious!

My own version of this recipe tries to achieve a similar thing, a sweet and tart sauce, but rather than using a can of grape jelly, I’ve gone a slight step further, creating something like a sweet and smoky Cranberry BBQ Sauce. These, were also delicious!

The moment after I took these photos, I set the meatballs on the counter and quietly ate them all, while no one was looking.

I might suggest making a double batch, when you DO make these. Half for you and half for the party people.

Happy Holidays!