Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Candied Orange Peels


This candied orange peels recipe worked out quite well.   The oranges are peeled and pithed,. and simmered in the 4Cups:4Cups  --  Sugar:Water ratio with 1tsp of heavy corn syrup added to keep from crystallization.  5 nice medium size fresh oranges.  Preferably home grown (or un-waxed oranges.)    Extra sugar to roll the peels in.
3 Wire racks and sheet pans covered with 'wax' paper to dry peels on.   1 large wooden spoon; 1 tongue; 1 plate with rim.      *(wax paper is cheaper than parchment paper for this purpose or do without)
Mason jar to store in.
Tips:  Boil the water first and add corn syrup; then, to make sure that the sugar would not form crystals and start to crystallize the rest of the syrup, carefully add sugar in small portion at a time and stir well to dissolve without getting the sugar sticking to the sides of the pot, then add another portion of sugar.  Once the orange peels are added, basically those acid would keep the crystals from forming.   But if it's non-acidic type fruit peels, I noticed, even with corn syrup, the crystals might form. 


 Use a flexible fruit pairing knife and slide it across the peel in horizontal angle.

 


 Didn't think that there will be this much pith - 200 some grams of it.
 Bring water to boil; add heavy corn syrup; then, while stirring with a wooden spoon, add separate portion of sugar at a time to dissolve completely before adding more;

Simmer for 1 hour or until the peels are translucent.  Cool completely in the pot.
Transfer the peels to wire rack.  Blot to remove excess liquid.  
  Roll in sugar and place on clean dry wire rack to dry overnight. 
 Store in sanitized air tight mason jar.
You can eat it just as is or chop and add to cookies, bread, etc., dipped in melted chocolate and make chocolate dipped orange peels; or chop and add to prepared main dishes.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Holiday Cookies Baking Get Together

Here is our holiday family fun get together - Baking Cookies for the Holiday.
And it's time to split the goodies.
Wish everyone a Merry Christmas!
The family approved recipes after all the baking and sharing were done came from
http://www.food.com and http://www.foodnetwork.com   I am very happy with these site's recipe.
1.  Bakery Style Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies - 2 batches; baked in our gas stove oven - checked right at 8 minutes and baked 2 to 2min30sec more minutes

2.  Christmas Chocolate Cherry Cookies - another bomb cookies (picture one at the top)

3.  Holiday Gingerbread Cookies from www.foodnetwork.com - this one is soooo good.   I love the distinct buttery taste.   I only put 1/2 Tbsp of Ground Ginger and Cinnamon, 1 tsp of nutmeg (instead of allspice because I didn't have allspice); however.   Because I don't like the feeling of eating 'spice' when I am eating cookies, but that is my preference.

4.  Cocoa Thumbprints - my grand-kids had the fun in stacking it up with caramels, marshmallows, and chocolate chips.   www.foodnetwork.com

5.   Kourabiedes (Greece):  Walnut Sugar Cookies from www.foodnetwork.com     We used crushed almonds instead of walnut.  It turned out great also.

6.  My personal candied popcorn recipe - drizzled with caramel and chocolate.

7.  a Box of Sugar cookie from Trader Joe.   It came with 3 cookie molds, tool.   Grand-kids made it into all kinds of shapes.

8.   Chewy bar made with Chocolate, white chocolate, caramel, marshmallows, and heavy cream.  Baked in the new handy gadget - electric brownie baker (it came with mini-bundt cake and mini-cupcake mold as well).  The result was interesting - "Hey! we need a chain saw to cut this".




Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Store Bought Pastry Adventure

Some time ago, I went to visit one of the favorite bakeries in Santa Clara called Souza Bakery.  While I was working at Underwriters Laboratory, I bought pastries for dessert many a times.  This time, I was hoping to find the Ponchik one of the blogger mentioned.  To my surprise, the Souza Bakery is sold and now called the Copenhagen Crown Bakery & Deli.   I started to look around the display cases and saw many different types of pastries and couldn't walk away without buying some.  So, here is my photo journal of chocolate mousse bonbon and giant croissants, custard filled flaky pastry which I don't recall the name of but I have been back twice since then to buy some more of it.


 Is this? and could it be the Ponchik?  But ... Oh, My! the layers and layers of flaky pastry and that custard is awesome!!


 Overall, I am very impressed with their Flaky pastries.  But I prefer my homemade croissants the best  :-)