Orange Liquor

Extended Shelf Life: Oranges (peels specifically)

Remember how we dived a bunch of oranges?

It's lead to exciting creations such as Orange Marmalade and Tangerine Salsa.

But this round of dumpster diving and experimenting has lead me to explore the art of using the entire fruit or vegetable. To find ways to use peels and scraps, pulp and cores. 

Vinegar has been a life saver for this.

So is making home-made stock.

But, obviously, in our house, we also enjoy a good Alcohol experiment or two what with the brewing and all.

So, with more peels than I could handle, I figured it was time to soak some in Vodka and see what I could create.

Based on this recipe, I went forth with a simple experiment which basically involved soaking a large handful of tangerine peels in the Vodka from one 750 ml bottle for a couple of weeks. I think made a simple syrup with water and sugar, added it to the tangerine Vodka and we ended up with a sickly sweet bottle of Orange Liquor which turns out makes a fabulous drink when poured over lime ice cubes.

So there you have it! Just another way to use up things you'd otherwise trash, candy or compost!

White Chocolate Orange No-Bake Cookies

Extended Shelf Life for: Oranges

With the raging success of my Cookies and Cream No-Bake Cookies, and my undying love with kitchen experiments AND the open field for experimenting with No-Bake cookies (seriously, why aren't there more variations?) I'm on the go with new and exciting ways to enjoy a no-bake cookie which, excitedly are gluten free, making them a great go-to for potlucks and other events where all my dear GF friends may be present.

These White Chocolate Orange No-Bake Cookies are, without a doubt, delectable and delicious and a variation on no-bakes that will please many a palate, especially if you happen to have a non-chocolate loving friend, such as I do.

If you have happened by these cookies after already enjoying the Cookies and Cream No-Bake, I hope you'll find this variation just as enjoyable!

Ingredients/Directions:

In a medium saucepan melt 1/2 cup Butter, 1/2 cup Milk and 1 3/4 cups Sugar together. Once mixture has come together remove from heat and stir in 1 bag of White Chocolate Chips until melted. Stir in 3 Tbsp. Orange Marmalade, 1 Tbsp. Fresh Orange Zest and 1 tsp. Vanilla. Add about 3 cups of Rolled Oats, add additional oats until mixture is thick and each oat is covered. Drop by the teaspoon or tablespoon full onto wax paper covered cookie sheets, refrigerate overnight or for 1-2 hours. Enjoy!

Candied Orange Peels

Extended Shelf life for: Oranges (peels, specifically)

Holy Oranges Batman! Our house has been the location of many an experiment and lately, oranges are finding themselves all over the place.

Being who I am, there's no way I can let that many orange peels pass through my hands without trying to figure out a creative, delicious use for them.

Rather than zesting the buggers and saving them for future use, like I did with my lemons, I decided it was time to candy some citrus peels and the results have been quite tasty...I'm sure, dipped in chocolate, they'd be even better, however we're just enjoying them as is.

Thanks to a beautifully titled blog: Use Real Butter, I used this recipe and turned out a delectable little treat!

Ingredients/Directions:

Remove the lovely little orange part of the 8 oranges from the bitter white pithy part of the orange. Since I have a hard-core juicer, I simply use a paring knife to slice off thin layers of the peel, finish removing the white pithy part and proceed to throw the the pulp into the juicer...if you want other suggestions, check out the original blog post...because it's late, I'm behind on blogging and...she did a real nice job explaining things ^^

Once you have lovely orange peels, throw them in a pot with cold water, bring to a boil, strain and repeat - you should do this a total of three times to eek out some of the bitterness.

With your oranges in the strainer, it's time to get into the real deal of making candied orange peels. Bring 3 cups of Sugar and 1 cup of Water to a boil over high heat until you reach 230 F. Add the orange peels, reduce to a simmer and simmer until translucent (30-75 minutes depending primarily on elevation). Remove peels from syrup and set on a rack to dry 4-5 hours or over night. If you wish to roll them in additional sugar at this point, you are more than welcome to do so. Otherwise, enjoy as is after a few hours or temper some chocolate and dip away!