Monday, February 9, 2009

Make your own gummy candies! Sort of.

Ok so technically they're called orangettes. But they taste like orange flavored gummy candy, except way, way better. (It's a good thing I have this space to unleash my brilliant writer's mind, because I am so descriptive.)

I'm not really sure what posessed me to make these. My mom sent me a link to somebody's blog which linked me to the Martha Stewart recipe and I thought oh hey, those look nice.

Plus someone at work had mentioned that the oranges in the grocery store are really good right now. I cut Martha's recipe in half (I only used three oranges) and then I ate THREE oranges in a 24 hour period. They are really good right now.

Getting the peel off was a little tricky, and trimming the excess bitter pith was sort of a pain, but I think the end result was worth it. I had a birthday party for myself on Saturday night (birthday on a Saturday, word) and these were a hit.

Also a hit: the birthday cake Adam made! He made two and layered them into one cake with raspberry jam - highly recommended. And no butter! What?

I didn't take a photo of the dredging in sugar step, because, well, my hands were covered in sugar. In the summer, I plan to garnish girly cocktails with these. And I can't wait to try them with other citrus fruits. I think grapefruits would be killer.


Candied Orange Peel
adapted from Martha Stewart

3 medium navel oranges
3 cups granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
3 cups water

Directions:

Using a paring knife, make six shallow cuts in each orange from top to bottom, cutting through the rind but not into the fruit. Use your fingers to gently loosen the six sections of rind off each orange. Use a longer, sharp knife to carefully slice off any extra white pith. Slice rind sections lengthwise into 1/4-inch to 1/8-inch strips. I got four strips out of each section of peel. Place strips in a pot, cover with cold water, cook on high heat just until the water starts boiling. Drain and repeat (cover with cold water, bring to a boil, drain and set aside).

Combine water and 3 cups sugar in a large, wide-mouth pot, cook over medium-high heat until mixture is boiling and sugar has completely dissolved. Carefully add sliced rinds into pot, turn heat down to medium, leave on a rapid simmer for about an hour, until rinds are translucent. Remove pot from heat, use tongs or a slotted spoon to fish out all the slices from the syrup & arrange in a single layer on a wire rack placed over a baking sheet or old newspaper. Pat a couple of paper towels on top of rinds to lightly blot up any excess syrup but do not dry completely. Dredge slices in extra granulated sugar until well coated, return to wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

10 comments:

  1. Bring on the limes and grapefruit peel gummies!!

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  2. i've been wanting to make these for ages! now that oranges are everywhere, i'll definitely make some :)

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  3. I love candied orange peel (all citrus peel actually) and I remember the first time i made it being so surprised by how easy and quick it was to do! Somehow it was one of those things that seemed super special until I actually did it.

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  4. I would love to put those in a quick bread. I bet they would be delicious! Hmmm, maybe I will :)

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  5. I feel like if I made a huge batch, I'd probably end up sticking them into all sorts of desserts, dipping them into chocolate and wrapping them up in pretty paper for friends. Great idea!

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  6. I've made multiple versions of this, and I gotta say, Martha's recipe ALWAYS turns out best. Yours look great.

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  7. I like the sound of making your own candied orange peel. They look great!

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  8. Hey, I tried making my own candied orange peel a couple weeks ago! It worked pretty well. The recipe I used called for triple-blanching the orange peel, thus avoiding the trimming of the pith. Mine weren't bitter at all.

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  9. Your recipe looks good. I have done it without removing the white part. When I boiled it once and discarded the water, I lost a lot of flavor. My grandmother made it with grapefruit peels as well as orange, and others, and died them red and green for Christmas.

    Russ Brown
    March 14, 2010

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  10. Anyone know how long these will keep? Can I freeze them...? Thanks!

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