Oranges are coming around and they are almost in season. When I think of Christmas smells I always think of Oranges. I grew up in California and in our backyard we had 3 orange trees. They are really beautiful orange trees with huge delicious oranges. On Christmas morning in our stockings each of us would get an orange. I would usually eat mine in the morning and go out to pick more (On Christmas morning I had a lot of time to kill since I would wake up at 6am with my sister). I remember the cold wet grass beneath my feet, the moss under the orange tree, and how wet my arm would get from the dew or rain when I would reach in to pick the fruit of my choice. With confidence I would say Oranges are one of my favorite fruits. You can imagine how excited I was to find 2 orange chocolate recipes, using the entire orange. The first one comes from my friend Meridith...who loves candy like any true addict. I will direct you to her blog for the first recipe.
Orangette
This recipe was very good...surprisingly good. I thought it would be more tart, but it was really sweet and the texture was very inviting.
The second recipe comes from this new recipe book I am reading...yes I read recipe book...it's my vice leave it alone. The Book is Chocolate American Style by Lora Brody.
Chocolate-Dipped Orange Slices
1 pound bittersweet chocolate tempered (you can probably google how to temper chocolate, but if you aren't worried about them looking perfect I would just melt the chocolate in the microwave making sure not to over melt them...then you would burn them...then you would have to start all over)
I only use Ghirardelli chocolate, again that is just a shout out to my homeland.
4 navel oranges, divided into segments, white membrane pulled off
Remember water and chocolate do not mix so try to keep the oranges very dry even from their own juices. I would place the segments on a paper towel.
This is a time when the quality of the orange is key - you want the most flavorful, juiciest, seedless oranges that you can find, the ones that can easily be pulled apart into segments.
Line 2 baking sheets with wax paper. Pour and scrape the chocolate into a shallow bowl. Working with one orange segment at a time, drop in into the chocolate, then use a fork to carefully turn it over so that it is completely coated in chocolate.
Use the fork to remove the segment, tap it lightly on the rim of the bowl to remove excess chocolate, and place it on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining segments, working fast so that the chocolate doesn't harden. You might want to keep the bowl on a heating pad turned low to keep the chocolate fluid.
Refrigerate the segments until the chocolate hardens. You can serve them right from the refrigerator but I think they are best at room temperature.
These should be eaten within 12 hours of making them.
Makes about 48 slices.
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