I know I hinted at the promise of Earl’s cake last week. Spoiler alert: it’s coming. But I wanted to get all
my cyberspace mis en place together. Which means I first need to talk
candied citrus peels.
These peels came to me by way of Martha
Stewart. I am like Martha Stewart in the same way that I imagine making
bûche de noël is like opening up a box of Little Debbie Christmas tree snack cakes. That is, not at all.
I have never made a glitter skull candelabra, nor have I ever felt the desire to sew red homemade felt slippers. I have not had the opportunity to craft a nativity set from jail, either. Should you be wondering.
We do seem to share a common bond with our
love of candied fruit. And candied fruit counts for something. In
fact, today it counts for a lot. Because you can use it in Earl’s Cake or
as a last minute gift, if you are a bit behind in the Christmas gifting
department.
It’s a fairly simple process if you have a
few citrus fruits and a sack of sugar lying around. And while you could
worry about doing this process multiple times, with separate batches of citrus,
I did not have the time or temperament for this.
So I threw orange peels, lemon peels, and
even half a grapefruit peel into the same pot. Blanched them twice.
And did not feel the need to swear once. Success.
They don’t glitter like a skull candelabra
might, but they do come off looking like little citrus jewels. And they
make lovely presents, especially for any bakers on your “nice” list this year.
Candied Assorted Citrus Peels
Adapted from Martha Stewart
Ingredients:
2 oranges
2 lemons
½ grapefruit (optional)
4 cups of sugar, plus more for rolling
4 cups of water
Instructions:
Using a knife, make six slits going from the
top to the bottom of each citrus fruit (so that you will have six separate
pieces of peel per fruit); cut through the peel with each slit but do not cut
into the fruit. Using your
fingers, gently remove the peel and reserve the fruit for another use. Using a sharp knife, remove any excess
pith from each piece, like you are filleting a fish (I ended up taking off most
of the white). Slice each piece
into ¼ inch strips. (You’ll want them to be the same size so that they cook
evenly.)
Place the strips into a saucepan and cover
them with cold water. Bring the
water to a boil and then drain off the liquid. Repeat this process.
Place the sugar and water in a large
saucepan over medium high heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. (Once the sugar dissolves stop
stirring.) Bring the sugar water to
a boil. Add the citrus strips to
the boiling liquid and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer the mixture gently for about an hour until the strips
are translucent (this took me about 90 minutes). (You can stir occasionally, as needed.)
Remove the pan from the heat and let cool
about 20-30 minutes. Using a
slotted spoon, scoop up the peels and place them on a wire rack set over your
kitchen sink (or over a clean sheet pan) to let the excess syrup drip off.
Place some sugar on a clean sheet pan and
roll the strips into the syrup.
Let the strips dry for 30-60 minutes (you can leave them in the sheet
pan or place them on a clean wire rack).
Store in an airtight container.
Makes 3-4 cups
Notes:
-I used the grapefruit because I was craving
a little bitterness. Feel free to
leave it off. If you would like to
make only one type of citrus peel do 2 grapefruits, 3 oranges, or 4 lemons.
-I recommend gifting the citrus peels in
WECK jars.
-Martha notes to hold off on the final
sugaring if you are baking with these citrus peels. However, the candied fruit in Earl’s cake sparkled like a
diamond; I wanted to recreate this.
Also, I just like the look of sugared candied fruit. (This, of course,
will make what you bake a bit sweeter, so keep this in mind.)
I love how sparkly they look - and there's nothing wrong with making things a little sweeter! Hope you are enjoying the holidays :)
ReplyDeleteGlad I was on your "nice" list. Very tasty!!!
ReplyDeleteBianca- hope you had a fantastic holiday! May your New Year sparkle. ;)
ReplyDeleteAnonymous- I will trade candied fruit for beer any day. :)