Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas 2011... more sweets...

Candied orange peel. I love how it makes something of what would otherwise be tossed out--and a very tasty treat indeed!

So simple to boot. I have found that a smaller batch is easier to manage so I only do 4 oranges at a time, but you can probably do 6 or 8 with the same amount of sugar. Cut them in half and squeeze the juice out of them (save for breakfast), place in large pot, cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Drain. Cover again with cold water and boil. Drain. Boil them 5 times like this. Drain for a last time and let them cool a bit. Scoop out the pulp, flatten them and scape as much pulp off as you like. Slice into strips. I happen to have some small cookie cutters so I use these to add a few shapes to the lot. The peel is now ready to be candied.

Spread 2 cups of sugar on a parchment lined cookie sheet. (I run my sugar through the processor to make it finer, but I imagine that if you obtain superfine sugar you won't need this step.)

Add 1 cup of boiling water to 2 cups of sugar and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the peel and bring to a boil on medium heat. Boil for 30 minutes, stirring now and then to begin with but after 15 minutes attention is required. When the syrup thickens they must be stirred continually or they will scorch.

Using tongs, pick the strips out of the pan and toss into the sugar. I find it best to pick the strips out singly or just a few at a time otherwise you can end up with a big glob of stuck together peels. Keep adding the peels to the sugar, and toss all around till coated with sugar.

For a truly luxurious treat, melt some chocolate and dip the peels half way in the chocolate. Oh-la-la.

4 comments:

  1. You have me drooling, Bernard! You have the greatest adventures in the kitchen.
    Do you use the peel I baking or just as nibbling treasures?

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just discovered how I could erase a duplicate comment, Bernard.
    From your computer challenged spinning hooking friend. :)

    ReplyDelete