Chocolated Coated Candied Orange Peel

We often have orange juice for breakfast and it seems such a shame to throw the peels away, as living in a flat in central London we cannot even compost them.

Candied orange peel coated in chocolate is delicious, very easy to make – although labour intensive – and very very expensive to buy.

Chocolate Coated Candied Orange Peel (makes around 80 pieces)

Peel of 3 oranges
12oz Sugar
Water
3 oz Plain Chocolate

Using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler remove the zest and a thin later of pith from the orange, before completely peeling or juicing.

Cut peel into ribbons about 1/4″ thick and 2″ long.

Blanch (cover with water and bring to the boil for a minute then drain) 4 times, this removes any bitterness from the pith and softens the peel.

Make a sugar syrup – 3 parts of sugar to 1 of water (I used a ramekin dish that held 4oz of sugar as a measure) and bring to the boil, reduce the heat add the peel and bring to a very gentle simmer. Keep a very careful eye on the syrup as it is easy to either boil over or burn.

After about 35 mins the syrup will have thickened and the peel will be slightly translucent.

Drain peel from the syrup – the easiest way to do this is to set a seive in a jam funnel over a jam jar, pour the peel and syrup into the seive.

Working quickly (otherwise all the peel with stick together in a large sticky lump!)arrange the candied peels in rows on a cooling rack above a baking tray (to catch the sugar drips)

When cool melt the chocolate and coat the peel and arrange on a silicone mat for the chocolate to set. The quickest way to do this is to add about 1/3 of the peel to the chocolate and stir it in and then pick them out one by one with your fingers, I tried with tongs the first time I made them, but it took forever.

When the chocolate is set, lightly roll the mat up to unstick the coated peel and store them in an airtight box in a cool place.

Enjoy!

Save the syrup for your next batch of orange peel (store in the fridge) or use in place of syrup in any recipes (such as the Crunchy Oat Sailing Biscuits )