When I was a little girl, I LOVED sweets but before I was old enough to know what I was doing I made a bet with my Dad. If I never ate sweets again, he would stop smoking. It was a killer move. You can’t exactly tell a 4 year old that they can go ahead and keep stuffing their face with sugar because you really quite enjoy lighting up every so often…
He totally owes me.
Anyway, I still ate sweets when he wasn’t looking, but perhaps not in the quantities that I would have done if I’d had a free reign, and I’ve discovered through life that when you have a limit placed on something, your taste tends to get more expensive.
My favorite chocolates in the whole world were introduced to me by my mother who only eats dark chocolate. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce Candied orange peel dipped in chocolate.
Orange Peel?
No your eyes aren’t deceiving you. I really mean orange peel.
It may not look it but it’s to.die.for. I swear. Eaten straight out of the fridge the orange peel bursts open with flavor and is balanced with the rich chocolate.
Now there is one problem with candied orange peel dipped in chocolate (apart from the fact that is doesn’t exactly roll of the tongue). It’s not really a well-known or readily available treat and wherever it is sold it’s in the “I’m handmade and therefore more expensive than one of your kidneys” department. As a result I don’t get to eat it that often so when we got back from Canada, I decided to get creative in the kitchen and indulge a craving for my old fave.
Go ahead and try your own batch. It’s super easy and I GUARANTEE you will love it. I haven’t found a single guinea pig that hasn’t. I’m usualy met with an “oh, actually that IS good..” before they try to grab the lot.
INGREDIENTS:
2 large oranges
1 cup Cane sugar - WARNING HEALTH FREAKS – trying to make this recipe with coconut sugar or any other “better for you” substitute doesn’t work. You’ll get discolored peels, a gooey texture and a weird taste. You’re not supposed to eat a whole orange’s worth of these chocolates at a time, so just go for it and treat yourself to the real deal.
1 bar of dark chocolate
(wine is optional and only for the chef)
DIRECTIONS:
Peel your oranges and chop the peel up into strips. Remove any large clumps of pith but no need to go overboard.
Place into a saucepan and fill with water until the peels are just covered
Bring to the boil, drain and repeat – twice
Then repeat a third time, adding water as before as well as ¾ cup of sugar. Bring to the boil until the sugar is dissolved then turn the heat down to simmer for 40 minutes
Remove the peels and leave them to cool and dry overnight. You can sprinkle the rest of the sugar over them at this point if you want.
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Once your peels are dry (after approx. 8 hours but its ok to leave them for longer if they’re in the fridge) melt your chocolate in a bowl and then dip each peel until it’s about ¾ covered. Lay each one out on a piece of greaseproof paper and pop the whole lot back in the fridge to harden.
ENJOY!
