Orangettes (Chocolate-Dipped Candied Orange Peels)

Orangettes Recipe (Chocolate Candied Orange Peel)

Orangettes (Chocolate-Dipped Candied Orange Peels)

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 1 10

Drying: 1 4

Total Time: 1 5 30

Servings: 3-inch slices

Calories: 52kcal

Author: Marvellina

Learn how to make classic French orangettes — candied orange peels dipped in dark chocolate. These chewy, citrusy, bittersweet treats are perfect for gifting or snacking, and are surprisingly easy to make at home!

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US Customary - Metric

Ingredients

4 large navel oranges
400 g sugar
420 g water

For the coating

90 g sugar
170 g 60% dark chocolate roughly chopped

Instructions

Blanching the orange peel:

Slice both ends of the oranges with a knife. Carefully peel the orange rinds and cut them into about 3-inch strips long and about 1 inch width, just roughly, don't have to be exact. Don't remove the white pith from the peels. The white pith won't be bitter anymore after the blanching process. If you remove the white pith, the peel will be too thin and the orangettes will be too tough and chewy after they are dry
You can keep the peeled oranges in a container in the fridge and eat them when you want

Candy the peels:

Place all the orange peel strips in a medium sauce pan. Cover with water and bring it to a boil and then let it blanch for about 10 minutes. Drain off the boiling water. The original recipe suggested to do this process 2 more times to reduce the bitterness in the peel
Next, we are going to cook the peel in sugar syrup. Put 2 cups of sugar and 1 3/4 cups water in the medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer. Add in the orange peel and let it simmer for the next 45 minutes to 1 hours. The peels will soften and somewhat a little translucent. Use a tongs to remove the peel and shake off any extra syrup and lay them down on parchment paper. The leftover syrup can be used for other purpose if you like, for example, in cocktails. It has very nice fragrant to it
I don't throw away the syrup, I save them in a bottle jar, let it cool down completely and then keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks or freeze them for up to 3 months. Simply thaw it when you want to use it. See my post above for more ideas on how you can use the syrup

Dry and sugar coat the peels:

Leave the peel to dry for at least 4 hours. You can feel that the peel will be sticky from the syrup. If you plan to cover the whole peel in chocolate, you can skip sugar coating the slices, but make sure the peels are really dry or the chocolate may seize when it touches moisture from the peels
Place about 6 Tbsp sugar (add more if you need to) in a bowl and coat each orangettes with the sugar and then lay them on a clean parchment paper and let them sit out overnight for at least 24 hours or longer

Melt the chocolate:

Place the chocolate pieces in a heat-proof bowl (preferably larger than the pan so it can sit on top). Set the bowl over the pan of gently simmering water. The bottom of the bowl shouldn't come into contact with the simmering water. Use a rubber spatula to stir. The chocolate will start to melt slowly. Perfect temperature is between 88-92 F

Coat with chocolate:

Remove from the heat and start dipping half of the orangettes into the chocolate and let the extra do drip off and gently lay them down on a clean parchment paper. If halfway through dipping the chocolate starts to cool down and difficult to dip, just set the bowl back into the simmering water and it will melt again.
Let the chocolate set at room temperature

Storage:

Keep them in airtight container without refrigeration necessary. This should be good for up to 2 months. They only lasted 3 days or probably less in our house !!

Notes

Recipe is adapted from Ed Kimber's Patisserie Made Simple cookbook with some modifications over the years after I have made them several times.

Nutrition