Candied oranges (oranges confites)

Candied oranges (oranges confites in French) are one of my favorite sweet snacks. I would eat them over the winter holidays with coffee and my favorite candied oranges are by far the ones from a chocolaterie in Lausanne (Blondel), that makes candied orange slices dipped in dark chocolate. They are too good!

Last week I was making an orange salad and thought I should do something with all the leftover orange skin. So I thought I should try to make candied oranges! The recipes requires nothing but orange skins and sugar and... a lot of time. Basically, you need to "blanch" the oranges three times and then cook them in sugar and water before letting them dry for a whole day. It takes time but it is worth it! You can store them for a while and they make for a great gift, so try them :-)
My boyfriend helped me with this recipe and they tasted great!

Recipe for candied oranges

5 oranges
sugar

Slice off the skin of oranges including the white part. Cut slices of about 1/2-1 cm in width.
Place your orange skins in a pot filled with cold water, bring to a boil, and when it boils, stop immediately. Rinse them in cold water.
Repeat this another two times (this procedure is called blanching).

Dry the orange skins a bit (with paper) and weigh them.
In a clean pot, place your orange skins and an equal amount (weight) of sugar. Cover with water to level (just about the height of the oranges).
Let simmer at low temperature for 20-30 min.

Let the orange skin slices dry for about 24hrs on a grid.
When dry (they have to be dry!), roll them in sugar. Store them in a closed container in the fridge.
If some water came out in the box, let them dry again for a few hours.

Enjoy them as is or dip them in dark chocolate before eating them :-)