Candy Making

The boys and I have  had a lot fun trying out recipes for Wednesday's article in the Spokesman on homemade candy gifts. One of our favorites so far is candied orange peel. I can't decide whether I like them best plain, or dipped in chocolate. They're a delightful combination of  zesty, citrusy and sweet. We bought some orange-flavored dark chocolate at Trader Joe's to dip them in - heavenly.

The most time-consuming part was removing the pith and and cutting the orange peels into strips, but I had some help from my almost 8-year-old. It was a fun project to do together, and the repetitive, quiet nature of the task opened the door to some good conversation.

 

Once the peels have been prepared, we covered them in water and let them simmer for 20 minutes. Next we drained them, and then simmered them again in a mixture of  1 1/2 cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of sugar (heat the water to dissolve the sugar and then add the peels) for 40 minutes.

Draint the peels and let them dry on a drying rack for about an hour. The final step is to roll the almost-dry peels in 1/2 cup of sugar (do this on waxed paper). Let them air-dry for about 4 hours and store in an air-tight jar or dip them in melted chocolate.

I guess I'll have to make a second batch for gifts, because I've eaten most of them already.