Sweets for the Sweet...

...in a post-Valentine's Day chocolate haze, I find myself obsessed with something entirely different...well, maybe not entirely, as it is sweet...certainly satiating a sweet tooth...full of crystal sugar goodness...

...let me introduce you to...Candied Orange Peel...a touch better...Blood Orange Candied Orange Peel...and after this morning, please meet her sister, Clementine Candied Orange Peel...

Blood Orange Candied Peel

Clementine Candied Peel

I love when blood oranges are in season....I can't get enough of that deep red flesh...the rosy blush of its skin...its juicy sweetness...

I used a couple of them to make a pomegranate-blood orange reduction for dinner and didn't want to waste a bit if I could help it...so I thought about what to do, google'd a recipe for candied peel and went for it.  I love how easy it is...so little work for a treat that is just short of amazing.  Yesterday while roaming a few food blogs I discovered Orangette's site and in reading her 'About Me' section, learned that the French call candied orange peel dipped in chocolate 'orangette'...no...I have not dipped them in chocolate...yet...at the rate I'm going, I will on the next go 'round...here's Giada's recipe (which does dip them in chocolate)...

Blood Orange Simple Syrup

...oh, I almost forgot to mention another by-product of making it...the orange-infused simple syrup that's produced...I dubbed it 'liquid gold' because it just is...still thinking about what I'm going to use it for...the bottle of bourbon is looking like a possibility...orange-almond cake (with thinly sliced peel atop) might make the cut...we'll see...with a weekend's worth of time on my hands in a couple of days, you never know what will come out of the kitchen...

...and check out the Orangette blog if you get a moment...it's charming and beautifully done....it also has me considering Aperol (but that's another story)...