Vanilla-Scented Candied Orange Peel

I hope that you had a nice Valentine's Day, celebrating with someone that you love, your husband, a friend or the cat.  

I have been meaning to make a version of these Candied Orange fruit peel slices from The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook, since the holidays! We were recently gifted a mound of the most delicious oranges and seeing how it was Valentine's Day weekend, it seemed like the perfect time to make them.  

There are a number of citrus fruits to choose from in the markets now and they are all at their peak.  I chose oranges but use what you have access to, Meyer Lemons, Limes, Buddha's Hand or Pomelo would also be delicious. 

These candied peels are truly a labor of love and require a little patience and planning to get them just right. I started mine the night before, allowing them to cool in their liquid overnight and left them to dry for two days before coating them in the final dusting of sugar.  

You will need:

4 oranges
2 vanilla bean pods
4 1/2 cups cane sugar
2 cups water

2 cups vanilla scented sugar for dredging

Cut each orange in half.  Carefully squeeze the juice out of each half while keeping the rind whole.  Save juice for another use.  Place the halves in a nonreactive saucepan (David Lebovitz has a great post on this) and cover with water.  Bring to boil then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.  Drain and discard the water.  The recipe recommends repeating this process once or twice more.  I opted to do it once and they were delicious, even with a little natural bitterness, which I like.

Cover the halves once more with cold water and bring to a boil again.  Cook at a simmer for about 60 minutes.  Drain and allow the rinds to cool or allow to sit overnight uncovered to cool.  When they are cool enough to handle, scoop out most of the white pith on the inside with a spoon, leaving a thin amount attached.  Then slice each half into thin strips.

In a sauce pan, add your sugar and water and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.  Split your vanilla bean pods and add the caviar inside them, to the sauce pan with your sliced fruit peel.  Add the emptied pods to your 2 cups of sugar for dredging.  Place the vanilla sugar in an airtight container and set aside. 

Turn the heat down to a simmer and allow the slices to cook without stirring for about 30 minutes.  You will know they are done when the pith turns translucent.  

Allow the slices to cool in the syrup then remove them with a slotted spoon to a wire rack or set on top of parchment paper to dry.  I set mine in the oven with the heat off and left them for two days to make sure all of the moisture had gone.

Now for the fun part.  Remember the vanilla pod scented sugar that you set aside?  Pout it into a bowl and, a handful at a time, add your slices gently sifting them through the sugar until all the peels are coated.

Store the slices in an airtight container and enjoy!  So far we have added ours to chocolate poundcake and granola but most have been enjoyed right out of the jar.  Save your left-over vanilla scented sugar, it is delicious in poundcake and your morning coffee.