o Make Candied Orange Peel:

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest of about half of an orange. Do not remove any of the white spongy stuff, called pith. No pith, no pithy comments. Pith has a bitterness that can be boiled out but no pith is better. Slice it so thin that you can hold it up to the light and see all the circles.

In a measuring cup, mix 1 Cup of boiling water and 1 Cup of sugar, stir until clear. Gently pour into a very clean pan and boil. Drop peels into the boiling water and boil until syrup is thick and peels are compliant.

The tricky part is that after you candy them, they want to stick together. I use a fondue fork to extract them and let them cool and dry on parchment paper. You could do this while making dinner the day before you bake and avoid all stickiness. Using scissors, cut into tiny bits.

I dislike waste more strongly than you imagine. After you extract the orange peel, look alive. You have pre-caramel in that pan. It will continue to bubble because of the orange so a thermometer or visual assessment of the color will tell you when you have caramel. Remove from the heat. Pour in enough thick whipping cream, maybe ½ cup. Expect a dramatic reaction but calmly keep stirring. Add two drops of double vanilla extract. Let cool. You wind up with a lovely caramel sauce.

Notes: Really, only to be read if you are already losing your mind. This could be a competitive distraction for psychic pain, oppressive family affections, or fascist neighbors. Personality dysfunction through excess curiosity could bring you here as well.

1. Sadly, many organic navel oranges were disfigured for this cooking exercise. They were able to reach their goal of delicious snackhood despite the depredations they were subjected to.

 

2. What’s the deal with “flours”
is this ostentatious consumption?
No. I am gluten free. I have been gluten free for two decades. In this recipe, any decent baking flour works. I have added almond flour because I have a sweet tooth that could weigh down a t-rex jaw. So, I try to slip in protein with the almond flour and eggs. These cookies may well comprise fifty percent of my daily calorie intake for
a few days.

3. Chocolates – is any explanation needed? Yeah, 3 kinds. Good quality, too.

4. Sorry about the Macadamia nuts. They are so fattening, my hips hung out over the edge of my saddle today. With the orange, your tongue needs to be reminded to look for fruit flavor and Macadamia does that better than any other, more ‘woody’ nut. Despite the intense calorie and fat load, research says that they are good for your heart, brain, metabolic system and that they stave off hunger. At twice the calories and four times the fat of almonds, I think they are crazy fattening but in this recipe, it has to be macadamia nuts.

5. “Stir until clear.” This bit is worth reading the whole recipe. I find caramel and sugar right up there with atomic science. By doing all this mixing in a measuring cup and gently dispensing it into the pan you avoid about 7237 possible errors. You’re welcome.

6. All my pans are clean. What do you mean “very clean pan”? I mean you want to rinse it with boiling water first and run your fingers around the surface to make sure that there is no renegade gunk or a fleck of dust (Fleckless Bakers Anonymous) stuck to the surface.

7. Are you crazy? Of course I’m crazy. But sugar, water, and heat are beyond crazy. Just read a candy thermometer and wrap your brain around those details. If there is a tiny bit of sugar stuck anywhere on your pan, your syrup will crystalize before your orange peel is candied. It’s not me, it is a chemical reaction.

8. What’s the big deal about not throwing away the sugar syrup? I don’t know. I really don’t. I was raised on “children starving in India” and I don’t like to waste food. And, David Attenborough said not to. Plus, if you are alert you wind up with some great caramel sauce. Now, you don’t want to waste that caramel sauce. I can’t gain weight or my saddle won’t fit and I can’t buy a new saddle because my butt’s bigger because I am saving the world by eating the caramel sauce. I have not figured out all the details here.

9. Great organizational tip: I don’t usually have organizational tips. I have a good memory for where my stuff is and have a high tolerance for chaos so if I make an organizational discovery, I like to share it because I am proud of myself. Here it is – dedicate one produce drawer in your refrigerator to nuts and nut flours. One place for all those half used bags that used to wander around hither and thither. The cool keeps them fresh and the drawer traps them. They never leap to the floor and unexpectedly scatter for the exits. You don’t need a rubber band, tape, or binder clip to close the bags because they are completely constrained by the closed drawer. You are the master.

10. Refrigerate for forty-five minutes, make a log, and freeze for thirty minutes? Are you kidding? Are you wasting my time? Never. I never waste time. I am hyper-productive. You have to refrigerate the dough so that it is stiff enough to work with. You want to freeze it so that you get that cake like center. Furthermore, that time allows you to get your kitchen clean. Your kitchen is clean? Give me a break. Have you dusted the tops of your doorways since you moved in? Gross. In a pinch, you can come over and fold my laundry.

11. Look, these are your cookies. Do what you want. But honestly, you get better, more even cooking with one sheet of cookies in the oven at a time. If you load three sheets of cookies in, the temperature goes down, and your oven freaks out, surging into overdrive resulting in browner bottoms and possible burnt spots. If you have a truly professional oven, not a domestic oven that is masquerading as a professional oven, you are fortunate. I hope you feel grateful every time you bake.

12. What if you don’t like to bake? Don’t do it. If it calms you down, moves you into the zone so that you can face your world feeling fresher and kinder, please bake.  If it irritates you and you dread the clean-up, just don’t do it.  It isn’t cheap.