Use a 2-quart slow cooker or place a heavy oven-safe dish into your large slow cooker insert to create a smaller cooking vessel.

Rinse the cranberries and put them into your slow cooker. Add the orange juice and water. Add the sugars, vanilla (if using), and cinnamon. Stir. There will be an awful lot of liquid, and the cranberries will float and you’ll wonder how on earth it could possibly turn into cranberry sauce. It will. I promise.

Cover and cook on high. It will take about 3 hours. Stir every hour or so. When the skin from the cranberries has softened, the cranberries will “pop” when pushed with a spoon up against the side of the crock. It wasn’t until about 2 hours in that my cranberries were soft enough to do this. Smoosh all of the cranberries. Stir well.

Now take the lid off of your cooker and heat on high for 30 to 45 minutes to allow the steam to escape. Serve warm or at room temperature.