Orangettes – chocolate dipped candied orange slices

Orangettes
Chocolate dipped candied orange slices
Based on the recipe of my beloved FiF

Ingredients for about 70 orangettes:

2 large oranges with thick skin, if possible untreated
200 to 250 g dark pastry chocolate (64% cocoa in general)
300 g sugar

Preparation:

Detach the peels of the oranges by quarters.

Blanch the peels: fill a deep saucepan with cold water, immerse the orange peels in it and bring to a boil. Keep boiling for 5 minutes and set aside to cool completely. Repeat the operation twice, each time starting with cold water (the same water, do not change it).

After the 3 boils, drain the peels and cut them into slices about the width of a pencil.

Glazing:

Prepare a syrup: 600 ml of water + 300 grams of sugar. Bring to a boil then dip in all the orange strips. Allow 5 minutes for boiling (medium heat). Turn off the heat and let the syrup cool completely, leaving the orange slices in it. This requires at least 4 to 6 hours of rest. When the syrup is cold, bring it back to the boil and count down again for 5 minutes then remove from heat. This operation is to be done once more. The orange peels are only candied when boiled 3 times 5 minutes and cooled 3 times (naturally, not in a cold water bath). So it takes around 24 hours to candy them.

After the third cooling of the syrup, take out the peels and arrange them on a large grid leaving enough space between them. Set aside to dry for several hours (takes 12 to 24 hours depending on the room temperature and moisture). We use the oven baking dish lined with parchment paper and topped with its baking grid. Smaller grid wouldn’t hold so many peels.

Coating with chocolate:

Melt the chocolate in a water bath. When it is liquid, let it lower a little in temperature so that the consistency gets a little thicker. The ideal is between 32 and 35 degrees. You can test with a finger whether the chocolate is ready to use. It must be a hint cooler than your body.

Dip the peels 1 by 1 in the chocolate to coat them. Then place them on a large baking dish covered with baking paper. Don’t hesitate to shake the fork and remove the excess chocolate from each peel.

Maintain the temperature of the chocolate during the entire coating operation.

When all the peels are dipped in chocolate, transfer the dish in the fridge. When the chocolate cools down and is hard to the touch, put the candied peels in a food container, preferably metal, and store them in the fridge.

Another option:

If you do not want to keep your orangettes in the fridge, proceed to tempering the chocolate.

In this case, you have to be very precise and use a kitchen thermometer to follow the temperature curves to the nearest degree.

Tempering is done in 3 steps: melt the chocolate at a temperature of 50 to 55 degrees. Then lower this temperature to 28-29 degrees. Go back to 31-32 degrees. Maintain this temperature throughout the coating.

Personally, we use the first method “by eye”, then go through the fridge. The result is an even better taste and soft peels, and much less restrictive.

Advice:

Do not throw away all the syrup. You can keep part of it in a glass jar in the fridge, and use it in cake recipes if you need to syrup a cake, for example. You can also keep some candied orange peels in this syrup, and use them in a brioche, cake or other type of pastry.

Follow the same steps to make chocolate dipped candied lemon peels. My Philip even loves them better!