Place water in a small sauce pot along with ½ cup of sugar over medium heat. Stir sugar and water.
1 cup water, ¾ cup granulated sugar
Place remaining ¼ cup of sugar in a bowl to use for coating the berries later.
¾ cup granulated sugar
When sugar in sauce pot dissolves, remove from heat. Do not bring water mixture to a boil. You want it just warm enough to dissolve the sugar.
Place cranberries in warm sugar mixture. Let set for 15 minutes.
1 cup fresh cranberries
Remove cranberries from water with a slotted spoon. Place cranberries on a baking rack. Allow to dry. This may take up to one hour.
When berries are fully dried, place in bowl of sugar. Do a few berries at a time so they don't stick to each other. Roll berries around in sugar. Carefully remove and place back on baking rack to dry.
Allow berries to dry for an additional hour. Use berries or store in a covered container for up to two days.
Video
Notes
Use a slotted spoon for removing berries from sugar water
Allow berries to dry on a baking rack
Place baking rack on top of a baking sheet. This helps contain the drips and makes clean up a bit easier.
Use your fingers to place the berries into the sugar. They will be sticky, but once the granulated sugar starts to stick to the berries, the stickiness goes away.
Handle the sugar covered berries as little as possible to help prevent brushing the sugar off the berries.
Discard excess sugar used for dusting the berries.
The sugar water can be saved and used in beverages.