When I last told you about the candied orange peels I was making, I left off with them boiling for three hours.
Once that was accomplished, the recipe then instructed me to spread them out on a rack over a baking sheet to dry completely. That was supposed to take at least eight hours. I put a sheet of parchment in the bottom of my baking sheet to avoid a big sticky mess from that sugar water.
When I went to bed last night, I checked them, and they were still quite wet. When I got up this morning, they were drier, but still quite sticky. Around 4:00 p.m., I decided that after 22 hours, they were probably as dry as I could expect them to be, and so I moved on to the next step.
The recipe told me to do it differently, but I decided to use only half the amount of sugar recommended and put the whole mixture (orange peels and sugar) into a zip-lock bag and then shook them around. When all the sugar was used up, I added just a little more sugar and shook them some more. I figured when no more sugar would adhere, I would have as much as I needed. When there was still a little sugar left in the bag, I dumped them all out onto the same rack and allowed the remaining sugar to fall through to the parchment. No mess! All I had to do was wad up the parchment and my sugary mess was taken care of. Here's how they look now.
And they taste really good. They taste a lot like those Sunkist Fruit Gems,
only they're not made from high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors. They're made from the real deal. That's not to imply that they're a healthy snack. But they would make a nice gift at Christmas, particularly if your intended Giftee likes baking.
I'm going to use these on Friday when I bake some orange hot cross buns. These were time-consuming, but not difficult to make. My hot cross buns recipe promises me that it will be worth the effort. It's a good project for a day when you're staying home. No single step takes much effort or babysitting. You just have to check on them occasionally and give them a shake or a stir.
Once that was accomplished, the recipe then instructed me to spread them out on a rack over a baking sheet to dry completely. That was supposed to take at least eight hours. I put a sheet of parchment in the bottom of my baking sheet to avoid a big sticky mess from that sugar water.
When I went to bed last night, I checked them, and they were still quite wet. When I got up this morning, they were drier, but still quite sticky. Around 4:00 p.m., I decided that after 22 hours, they were probably as dry as I could expect them to be, and so I moved on to the next step.
The recipe told me to do it differently, but I decided to use only half the amount of sugar recommended and put the whole mixture (orange peels and sugar) into a zip-lock bag and then shook them around. When all the sugar was used up, I added just a little more sugar and shook them some more. I figured when no more sugar would adhere, I would have as much as I needed. When there was still a little sugar left in the bag, I dumped them all out onto the same rack and allowed the remaining sugar to fall through to the parchment. No mess! All I had to do was wad up the parchment and my sugary mess was taken care of. Here's how they look now.
And they taste really good. They taste a lot like those Sunkist Fruit Gems,
only they're not made from high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors. They're made from the real deal. That's not to imply that they're a healthy snack. But they would make a nice gift at Christmas, particularly if your intended Giftee likes baking.
I'm going to use these on Friday when I bake some orange hot cross buns. These were time-consuming, but not difficult to make. My hot cross buns recipe promises me that it will be worth the effort. It's a good project for a day when you're staying home. No single step takes much effort or babysitting. You just have to check on them occasionally and give them a shake or a stir.
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