Candied orange and lemon slices

 

Oh do I love these! Easy to make and my family LOVES them! To see how hapy they are when I give the slices to them is just wonderful. When I see them displayed on a tray like in the photo above, I think of Christmas and the Nutcracker. When I was a child, my family would go and see the Nutcracker ever year! In fact, we did it every year until we came to Spain. The Nutcracker ballet is by no means a traditional  part of Christmas in Spain. In fact, even here in Madrid, you could have a hard time finding any shows. I have a happy memory of my mother and I practically galloping to get a glass of champagne during the intermission. Haha..We knew how to keep things classy!

Another thing that this recipe reminds me of is when I used to work in a chocolate shop. These were a popular and rather expensive treat sold in the shop. Little did I know then that although they were expensive, they were easy to make! These are, without a doubt, delicious and if you are keen on orange and lemon flavours, you should try these! The key to preparing these little guys is time! I believe that is why they are sold at usually high prices. These are certainly not labour intensive but yes, you need to prepare ahead of time if you want to prepare these as a gift or for a special Christmas treat. Ok..enough blabbering and on with the recipe! I am including the original method if you want the slices to be a bit syrupy and then I am adding what I did in order to give them the non syrupy  sugary effect.

This recipe is from A la Mere de la Famille

Ingredients

4 oranges and 4 lemons.

1 liter of water

1.2 kilos sugar

Method

• Day 1
• Wash the oranges and lemons and dry them with a clean towel. Cut each fruit thinly. You should end up with  2o slices of orange and 20 slices of lemon. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and then add the slices. Cook for 5 minutes to soften the skins. (The smell at this moment is lovely). After the 5 minutes, drain  the slices and return them to the large pot.
• 2. Pour the liter of water  and 600 grams of the sugar in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Then pour the boiling syrup over the slices. Cover and set aside until the following day.
• Day 2
• The next day, strain the syrup and bring it to a boil again, adding 200 g of the sugar. Put the slices in and continue boiling for about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover it and set aside again until the following day.

REPEAT the process of day 2 two more times over two consecutive days, adding 200 g of sugar to the syrup each time. Then let the oranges steep in the syrup for a week.

After the week has passed, remove the oranges from the syrup and enjoy.

They are lovely with a bit of syrup!

For the sugary effect;

I arranged the slices on a tray and let them relaease some liquid. I wanted them to dry out and it actually took about 5 or 6 days for them to dry out. Yours may need a bit more time. I carefully ¨dried¨them with a paper towel and wiped the tray of any excess liquid.

After about six days, they were a perfect texture. A bit moist and sticky but not liquidy. I rolled them in a bit of sugar and that was that. They were ready to devour!

Enjoy! xxxxx Natascha