Orange you glad?

Lately, after sifting through my favorite food blog Orangette (think food meets story), I became entranced with the photo of orangettes gleaming from the top of the webpage. Images of dazzling sugar-spiked orange slivers peeking out from dark chocolate covers danced around my head...until it set my brain on a one-way track to 'MUST EAT.' After making my rounds online, I could not find them for a price that I wouldn't feel guilty purchasing for a random craving/impulse. Instead, I found, these delicious creations aren't so hard to make - it just requires some time. So this is what I did:

Ingredients:
Oranges
Dark chocolate chips
Sugar
Water

Directions:
1. Slice ends off oranges (pick however many you want, depending on how many orangettes you want), score the peel from one end to the other, and remove the peels from the oranges.

2. Slice the peels into thin strips and trim their edges.

3. Using a medium size pot, place the peels in boiling water and blanch them for a few minutes. Rinse the peels, and repeat this process a second time. This is done to remove the bitterness of the peels.

4. Prepare the simple syrup by combining water and sugar in a 1:1 ratio in a saucepan. Use about 2 oz. water and 2 oz. sugar mixed together for each orange you've used (i.e. 8 oz. water + 8 oz. sugar for 4 oranges). Bring the syrup to a simmer, place the peels in the pot, and simmer for 1 hour.

5. Once the peels have cooked, remove them from the pot, and place on a rack to cool and drain.

6. Melt 16 oz. dark chocolate over a double boiler. Dip the candied orange peels in the chocolate, remove them quickly, and let them cool on a piece of parchment paper.

7. Store newly made orangettes in airtight container.

I'm still working on making them look pretty like this.

I like to think they're healthy. Look at all that vitamin C! Vitamins cancel out calories therefore, it's practically calorie-free.