Chocolate Candied Orange Peel

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Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 1½ hours Makes about 2½ cups

Virginia Forsyth of Sacramento was looking for a recipe for chocolate-covered orange peel. Justine Bunnell of Fair Oaks shares this recipe.

• Ingredients:

3 large navel oranges, scrubbed

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate

• Instructions:

For the peel: Using a serrated knife or other sharp knife, cut a thin slice off the top and bottom of each orange to expose the flesh. Score the peel of each orange into quarters, cutting through the white pith, and pull the quarters of peel off the orange. Using a sharp spoon, scrape off any stringy membranes from the inside of the peel (do not scrape off the white pith). Cut each quarter crosswise into ¼-inch-wide strips.

Put the orange peel in a large, heavy saucepan, add cold water to cover and bring to a boil. Drain. Repeat two more times (blanching the peel removes the bitterness). Return the orange peel to the saucepan, add cold water to cover by about 1 inch and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the peel is tender when pierced with a knife, about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Set a large wire rack, preferably mesh, over a baking sheet. Combine the corn syrup, sugar and water in the same saucepan in which you blanched the peel and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Wash down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush to remove any sugar crystals (which could cause the syrup to crystallize) and add the orange peel.

Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat and simmer gently, stirring once or twice with a clean spoon, until the peel is translucent and very tender, and the syrup has reduced to a few spoonfuls, 30 to 40 minutes. (Don't allow it to reduce to less than this, or the bottom of the pan will become too hot and will crystallize the sugar.)

Using a slotted spoon or a fork, transfer the peel to the wire rack to drain, separating all the strips of peel. Let cool and let stand until dry, at least four hours. (Once the orange peel is thoroughly dry, keep it in an airtight tin at room temperature for up to one week.)

For the chocolate: Melt the chocolate over a double boiler, dip in the orange peels and let dry on a wire rack.