Pear galette with pear-caramel ice cream

Hello! Well, it has certainly been a while, hasn't it. Honestly, we have no exciting excuses for absence. Its not that we've been jetting off to exotic locales, although there was an afternoon in Istanbul and a quick stop by Bishkek between the two of us. We've been busy. While that does not mean we eat badly, it does mean that we eat late, which makes for terrible, terrible pictures. Personally, I (Madina), also get very cranky when hungry, so the last thing I want to do is to have to take a picture to share. But this ends now. I am resolved to not let hungry impatience get the best of me and to do a much better job with actually sharing our cooking efforts.

Ok, now that the apology is out of the way, let's get to the real reason we are all here - the eats. I was craving caramel ice cream last week, which led me to finding the perfect recipe in David Lebovitz's delightful book . It combines pears and caramel, delivering a bit of bitterness and a tiny bit of pear texture, which I happen to love. It was delicious, but not pear-y enough for me.

The search for a more pronounced pear flavor had me explore poached pears, but instead I decided to bake a galette. Simple, rich, and flaky dough borrowed from Smitten Kitchen surrounded the pears, which tasted like better version of themselves, cooked in rich juices and enhanced with cinnamon and lemon. The galette delivered the pear punch I wanted and was perfect with the caramel ice cream. Bonus tip - a bit of Cognac is really excellent with this desert. I wonder if this combination makes me sound like a Victorian maid? Maybe the Forsyte Saga is having its influence.

Pear-Caramel Ice Cream
Barely adapted from David Lebovitz. His recipe is perfect; I just added a bit more salt.

3 medium ripe pears, peeled and cored. I used Bartlett
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt. Add 1/4 teaspoon if you want the salty caramel flavor
A few drops freshly squeezed lemon juice

Dice the pears into small, even pieces.
Spread the sugar in a large, nonreactive saucepan and cook over medium heat, keeping a close eye on it. When the sugar begins to liquify and darken around the edges, gently stir it with a spatula towards the center. You will find that the edges will caramelize quicker than the center, so stirring helps keep the process even.
Once the sugar is deep amber, add in the pear pieces. Give the whole thing a stir. Do not worry if some of the caramel seizes and hardens; it will melt again soon enough. Cook over medium heat for 10 - 15 minutes until the pears are very soft and can be mashed with the back of a spoon.
Remove the pot from heat and stir in 1/2 cup of heavy cream, then add the rest of the cream, the salt, and the lemon juice. Stir well.
Let cook to room temperature. Transfer the mixture to a blender or a food processor and puree until smooth. I found that the mixture is too liquid for an immersion blender and makes a bit of a mess of one's stovetop. The original recipe calls for straining the pureed mixture, but I did not bother. I like the texture from the tiny bits of pear still floating around.
Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then churn per your ice cream maker instructions. Serve in generous scoops over warm pear galette or on its own.

Pear Galette
Dough adapted from Smitten Kitchen

For the dough:
1 stick unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces about 1/4 inch each
1 1/4 cup All-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup sour cream, yogurt, or creme fraiche
2 teaspoons lemon juice, from about 1/4 lemon
1/4 - 1/3 cup ice water

In a medium bowl, cut the butter, sugar, and flour together with a pastry cutter, 2 table knives, or your fingers until butter is coated with flour and is in bits the size of peas. Mix the sour cream, lemon juice, and 1/4 cup ice water and drizzle the mixture onto the flour, all the while mixing with a fork. Remove large clumps of dough onto a lightly floured table surface. Add ice water, a teaspoon at a time to the remaining flour in the bowl until it holds together when squeezed in your hand. The dough should be more dry than wet. Dump the bowl content onto the table and knead it all together, until it comes into a somewhat cohesive ball. Flatten with the palm of your hand (this will make rolling easier later), wrap in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, but ideally overnight. You can also double this recipe, using 1 half for the pear galette and freezing the other for another day you crave flaky richness.

For the filling:
4 medium-large Bosc pears, peeled and cored. I find that Bosc pears keep their shape well during baking
1 tablespoon lemon juice, from about 1/3 lemon
Zest of 1/2 lemon
2 - 3 tablespoons sugar, depending on the sweetness of your pears
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar for sprinkling, optional but really nice

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, set the rack in the middle, line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon pad.
Cut the pears in half and the slice each half, lengthwise into 8 - 10 slices. Mix the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Gently toss the slices pears with the lemon/sugar/cinnamon mixture and let stand while you roll out the dough.
Take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll out, on a well-floured surface until about 12 inches in diameter. Put the dough in the middle of the baking sheet. Mound the filling in the middle of the dough, leaving about a 2-inch border. Fold the border over the filling decoratively, if you would like and sprinkle the border with turbinado sugar. Slide the baking sheet into the hot oven and bake 35 - 45 minutes, until the juices are bubbling and the galette is nicely browned. Let cool to room temperature before serving.

Aromatherapy: Lavender cookies

One of my boyfriend’s complaints is that all of the lotions in the house have a lavender scent. Meanwhile, I envy that Madina discovered L’occitane lavender perfume before me. In short, if I could I would make everything smell like lavender.

There is no better time to enjoy the soothing scent of this humble looking plant than a holiday season. This recipe is an aromatherapy for all the cooks busy baking holiday treats. While many people have been praising lavender ice cream after the release of It’s Complicated, I find that application of butter to lavender (no, no other way around), gives this flower a second chance to blossom.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup sugar

1.5 teaspoon dried lavender blossoms, crushed

2 ounces unsalted butter, softened at the room temperature

2 ounces plain cream cheese

1 cup all-purpose white flour

½ fleur de sel

Mix sugar, 1 tsp of lavender, and lemon zest. Beat butter and cream cheese at a low speed for 1 minute. Add sugar mix to the butter mix beating for another minute or so until pale and fluffy. At a low speed, add flour and mix until the dough comes together. You might need to switch to a spatula and mix it by hand.

Gather the dough into a ball and freeze for 15 minutes.

 

Shape chilled, firm dough into a 4” log. Cover the log in a plastic wrap and freeze for 5 more minutes. While the dough is chilling, line a baking sheet with a parchment paper or a silpat. Pre-heat the oven to 350F.

Unwrap the dough and cut it into ¼ inch thick cookies arranging them on a baking sheet at least ½ inch apart. Sprinkle the cookies with fleur de sel and remaining .5 tsp of lavender.

Bake the cookies for 20 minutes or until the edges are golden. Cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy with a glass of milk or champaign.

David meets Jenny at the Walker Jones Farm

Not too long ago I started volunteering at the Walker Jones Farm. The Farm at Walker Jones is an emerging urban farm based on Walker Jones Education Campus, a DC Public School. I discovered the farm during a bike ride and was stunned by the diversity of the crops grown on such a small plot of land. Here, you can pick tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and pumpkins right from the vine. The freshness of vegetables beats the traditional farmer’s market produce. So if you want to get the freshest vegetables in DC or simply help the team of talented farmers and dedicated volunteers, stop by on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 6PM and on Sundays from noon to 4PM.

Before heading to the farm last weekend, I was flipping through the August issue of Saveur and almost jumped off my chair when I saw the recipe of Jenny’s Splendid Ice Cream. Ok, let me tell you this ice cream is soooo good that I am willing to go to Columbus just to have some fresh Jenny’s (by the way of you are in let me know, we can totally make this happen). Immediately, I scratched the plan to make scones in the evening to test Jenny’s ice cream recipe.

Few hours later, while taking a break from harvesting spaghetti squash, I noticed a beautiful bush of mint, and the ice cream idea started to come together. The final recipe combines David Lebovitz’ chocolate chip technique and Jenny’s eggless ice cream base resulting in an airy ice cream with a fresh mint flavor and a dark chocolate crunch.

Fresh mint chocolate chip ice cream
2cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp. light corn syrup
¼ kosher salt
2 cups fresh mint

¼ cup whole milk
4 tsp. cornstarch
3 tbsp. cream cheese

6 oz. dark chocolate

Mix heavy cream, 1 cup of milk, sugar, corn syrup, salt, and mint in a large pot. Cover and bring to boil. Boil for 1 minute, turn off the heat. With the lid closed infuse the mixture for 2 hours.

Strain the liquid into a large bowl and press the mint through a chinois/fine mesh strainer to extract the mint flavor. Discard mint and pour the liquid back into the pot. Bring the liquid to a rolling boil.

While the mint liquid is getting warm, mix cornstarch and remaining milk until the mixture is well combined. Stir the liquid into the pot and cook until the mixture thickens for about 2 minutes.  The mixture should be thick enough to coat the back of the wooden spoon. Turn off the heat.

Place cream cheese in a bowl and pour in ¼ cup of hot mixture, whisk until smooth. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pot and stir the base for a minute. The ice cream base is almost finished.

Fill a large bowl with ice water. Pour the ice cream base into a large Ziploc bag. Place a closed bag into the ice water. This will allow the base to cool just in 10 minutes.

Once the base is cool, transfer it into the ice cream maker and follow manufacturing instructions.

Several minutes before the ice cream is ready and your ice cream machine starts to sound like an old Soviet train, melt the chocolate in a microwave or a water bath. Turn off the ice cream maker.

Drizzle the bottom and the sides of a large plastic container with melted chocolate and top with a layer of ice cream. Drizzle more chocolate over the ice cream and top with another layer of ice cream. Using a dining knife, break frozen chocolate into small chips. Continue layering chocolate and ice cream breaking the chocolate every 1 or 2 layers.

Freeze the ice cream for at least 2 hours and enjoy on a hot summer day after few hours of farming.

 

Strawberry cake

First, I want to apologize to Liz's sister, who has been asking for this recipe for a while. My crazy travels to Indonesia, Russia, and Kazakhstan have kept me busy and away from my kitchen. A post about the food cultures in these countries is coming up soon. And now, let’s get to the cake business.

About a year ago, I discovered a 7-minute frosting that can be described as a heavy cream marshmallow sugar cloud goodness :). This frosting has a light taste, but a firm body, which makes it perfect for the strawberry cake featured in the May edition of the Saveur magazine.

The original cake recipe calls for 16 Tbsp of butter, 8 oz. of cream cheese, 1 cup of canola oil, and ... a pack of cholesterol medicine. Despite that, the Saveur recipe became the inspiration for a flavorful, yet light cake with strawberries covered in the clouds of frosting.

Cake
3 cups of cake flour, plus 2 tbsp for the pans
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup of whole milk
1/2 cup of purred strawberries pressed through a chinois
2 tbsp of beet food coloring from 1 graded and squeezed beet (you can use conventional food coloring if you insist)
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs

Pre-heat the oven to 350°. Butter and flour two 9″ round cake pans.
Mix flour, baking powder, and salt.
Whisk together milk, strawberry pure, and 2 tbs. of food coloring.
Beat sugar, oil, vanilla, and eggs on the medium-high speed until pale and smooth, 2–3 minutes.
In 3 additions add dry and wet ingredients to the sugar mixture beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until the batter is smooth.
Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops.
Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean.
Cool the cakes for15 minutes, unmold, then cool for another 15 minutes until the cakes are at the room temperature.

Frosting

5 tbsp of the room temperature water

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 cup of sugar

2 large egg whites at the room temperature

Seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Whisk all ingredients except the vanilla, in a large glass bowl.
Fill a wide skilled with water (1 inch) and bring the water to simmer.

Set the bowl in the skillet making sure that the water level is at least as high as the depth of the egg whites.

Beat the mixture on the low speed until it reaches 140F. Don't stop beating when the bowl is in the skillet. You can take the bowl out of the skilled to check the temperature.

Once the frosting reaches 140F, switch the mixer to high and beat the frosting for another five minutes.
Remove the bowl from the skillet and add the vanilla. Beat the frosting on high for two more minutes until it becomes room temperature.
Refridgerate for at least 15 minutes before using.

Assembling
1/2 cup of hulled strawberries cut vertically into 3 pieces

Flip one cake upside down and spread 1/3 cup of the frosting on top. Arrange the strawberries in one layer and top with ¼ cup of the frosting.
Place the second layer of the cake, top side up. Frost the top and the sides with 1/2 cup of the frosting. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Cover the cake with the rest of the frosting and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

Serve at the room temperature.

Boozy challah bread pudding

weekly menu notes

There are two issues with challah that despite all of my attempts I could not resolve for a while. The recipe yields 2 large bread loafs and despite the fact that I always give some of it away, I still end up with at least ½ extra loaf. Challah also does not age or freeze well. The bread dries out just in couple days and becomes too chewy when frozen.

Today morning, when flipping through an old issue of Food&Wine, I spotted a recipe for a rhubarb bread pudding… then I lifted my gaze and say half a loaf of stale challah. My mind and stomach started working. First, there are very few fruits still available at the market. Apples would be great, but I am a bit tired from apple desserts after the holiday season, so I went with the second option- pears. Then, my craving for chocolate and a hint of sweet tanginess, in this case golden raisins, kicked in. Brandy came last to adding depth and woodiness to this rich dessert that solve this issue of stale challah.

Boozy bread pudding 12 cups 1 inch cubes of stale challah, crust removed

¼ cup brandy

¼ cup golden raisins
½ cup agave
3 large eggs
2.5 cups half&half
pinch of salt
½ cup shaved unsweetened dark chocolate
2 thinly sliced bosc pears
¼ cup sugar


Pre-heat the oven to 375F. Set aside a cake pan that fits into a larger skillet for the water bath.
Arrange challah cubes in one layer and bake for 10-12 minutes until the bread is slightly toasted. Move the bread into a large bowl. Keep the oven on.
Run raisins under hot water until soft. Place raisins a small bowl with brandy.
Whisk agave, eggs, half&half, salt, chocolate, and raisins. Gently fold in the mixture making sure all pieces of bread are covered . Soak for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the skillet over moderate heat. Sprinkle sugar on the skillet and add pears. Caramelize pears for 2-3 minutes on each side. Pour brandy from soaked raisins over the pears and cook until brandy is completely evaporated. Turn off the heat.

Move pears to the cake pan arranging them in a single payer.

Instead of trying to scrape of the caramel from the bottom of the skillet, fill up the pan half-way with water.

Spoon the bread mixture and any remaining liquid over the pears. Place the cake pan into the skilled filled with water. Bake for 1 hour.

Remove the cake pan from the water

 bath and place on a wire rack to cool.

*if you want to get the tart-like design as shown below, line the pears evenly on the bottom of the cake pan. When the pudding is cool, run a spatula around the edge of the pan and invert the pudding carefully.

The story of the fresh hog, fresh cranberry scones, & bonbons au chocolat

Leigh, the owner of the Bull Run, the farm I receive CSA from, offers a number of specials during the CSA season including opportunities to purchase raw cheese, local honey, and meat. Couple month before Thanksgiving, Leigh sent CSA members an email asking if anyone would be interested in purchasing a whole or a half hog from a local farmer, who raised grass fed hogs. Fear of having to store over 50 pounds of pork in my freezer stopped me from signing up for this deal right away. Within a week, I recruited eight friends with a weakness for good meat to share half a hog. So a day after Thanksgiving, my sister and I hopped on the road to pick up 80 pounds of glorious pork from Fauquier's Finest Country butcher shop, in Virginia. The butcher did an amazing job packing and sorting the meat. All I had to do was to stack the vacuum-sealed meat blocks in my freezer like Tetris.

After making both a grand Thanksgiving meal and cooking at several Artisa events, my cooking motivation level was a bit low. It was very bad timing for that since I planned to make some cookies for the office. As with any food, this “oh not another cup of butter to be whipped” attitude would probably have a negative effect on the cookies and turn the pleasant baking experience into a nightmare.

Instead, I decided to make candy with none of the traditional caramel/toffee mess. The inspiration for the recipe came from store-bought candies that are very popular back home. Based on the reviews I received from my colleagues, these bonbons will soon become popular in the States too.

Dried fruit and nuts bonbons au chocolat
20 dried apricots

20 dried prunes
10 dried figs
20 salted and roasted almonds
20 roasted whole walnuts
20 salted and roasted pistachios
2 tbsp cinnamon
4 lightly crushed cloves
16 oz good quality semi-sweet chocolate

Pre-heat the oven to 250F.
Bring three pots of water to simmer. In the first pot, dissolve the spices and add apricots. In the second pot, add figs and prunes. Simmer for 5-7 minutes until the fruit “puffs” and softens. Remove the fruits from the liquid, spread on the baking sheep, pat dry, and stick in the oven for 5-7 minutes until the skins are dry. Cool the fruits.
In the third pot, melt the chocolate in a water bath stirring constantly with the spatula. Line a large cutting board with a plastic wrap.
Using kitchen scissors make a small cut in each fruit and insert 1-2 nuts inside (I stuffed apricots with almonds, prunes with walnuts, and dates with pistachios).
With chopsticks or tweezers, dip each stuffed apricot into the chocolate, making sure the entire fruit is well coated with chocolate. Gently shake off excess chocolate and place the bonbon on the cutting board lined with a plastic wrap. Continue with the rest of the fruit. Refrigerate the bonbons until the chocolate is firm for 15-20 minutes.
Compliment the bonbons with a cup of tea or coffee.

Elements of the weekend: sustainable eating and birthday pear tart

In the past couple year, I have been increasingly using local seasonal produce from community supported agriculture (CSA) ran by the Bull Run Mountain Farm. Leigh Hauter, the owner of the farm, is one of the most wonderful CSA providers in D.C. area. He always delivers exceptional organic fruits and vegetables along with fresh eggs and honey. Few times a season, shareholders also can order 5-pounds of raw Cheddar or Colby cheese, and visit the Farm for a shareholders party, cider pressing, and gleaning. I could not miss an opportunity to make some fresh cider. Here is the video of me pressing cider and links to the farms' websites.

Information on CSA http://bullrunfarm.com/

Website of the dairy farm http://www.farmsteadfresh.com/

In addition to the traditional apple cider, we made some pear cider, which was absolutely divine. I saved few pears to make an almond pear tart for my dear friend Amina’s birthday.

Almond-pear tart

Tart shell:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup agave

1/4 teaspoon salt

9 tablespoons of frozen unsalted butter, cut into small cubes or grated

1 large egg yolk

Put the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl and mix using 2 forks until the flour mixture mixes with butter forming coarse meal the size of oatmeal. Mix in the yolk until it blends in forming clumps. Turn the dough on the counter and gently form a ball, then knead carefully. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for couple hours.

After the dough chilled for 2 hours move it to well-floured surface. I am lucky to have stone countertop that keeps the dough cool longer. Butter an 8-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Lift the dough to prevent sticking. Roll on half of the dough on the rolling pin and move to the pan. Press the dough carefully intol the pan sealing the edges. If the dough is bigger than a pan press the extra dough into the edges to make them firmer. Generously pierce the crust with fork.

Cover the crust tightly with non-stick aluminum foil and freeze for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375°F and bake the crust for 25 minutes on the middle rack. Remove the foil and bake the crust for another 5 minutes. Cool the crust on a rack.

Filing:

2 cups dessert wine

½ cup agave

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 firm but ripe pears, peeled, cut in a half vertically, and cored

1 ½ cup almond meal

2 tablespoon all purpose flour

1 ounce agave

1 ½ stick room temperature butter

2 large eggs

1 teaspoons brandy

1 teaspoon almond extract

Powdered sugar (optional)

Bring wine, agave, and lemon juice to simmer. Add pears and cover the pot. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until pears look soft and translucent. Cool pears in syrup (reserve the syrup to top vanilla ice cream) Once pears are cool, cut the pear halves into ½ inch thick half rounds keeping the shape of half a pear together.

Mix almond meal, flour, and butter. Slowly mix in agave, eggs, brandy, and almond extract.

Spread the filling evenly in the crust. Carefully lift the pear halves using a large knife as a shelf and place in the filling so the top part of the pear point in the center. Gently press the pear on an angle, so the pieces will fan out.

Bake the tart for 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool tart in the pan on rack. Sift powdered sugar the bottom of the shell, and serve.

Vareniki, granola, and apple bread

Our mom is in the States for 3 months. She spends most of her time in NYC, so I don’t get as many goodies as my sister does. During this week when she was visiting, I tried to squeeze in as many dishes that we wanted to exchange on the menu. One of the things that I miss the most about mom’s cooking, is hand-rolled pasta dough and 10,000 dishes she uses it for. We made a slightly gourmet version of vareniki, traditional Ukrainian ravioli, apple bread, and granola. I made some tweaks to the apple bread recipe from smittenkitchen.com and staple granola recipe substituting sugar for agave.

Apple bread: substitute a cup of oil and sugar for ½ cup of oil and ½ of agave.

Granola:

4 cups of regular oats

generous pinch of salt

1/3 cup of agave

1/3 cup of vegetable oil

3 cups of assorted chopped nuts, seeds, and dry fruits. I used walnuts, sunflower seeds, dried apricots, and raisins.

Bring the oven to 300F. Mix oats, salt, agave, and oil.Spread the mixture evenly on a cookie sheet or non-alumni baking sheet. When using alumni baking sheet cover it with parchment paper, because aluminum might alter the taste of some foods.
Bake for 1 hour. Mix in nut, seed, and fruit mixture and bake for another 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate in a closed container for up to 2 weeks.

Dough

1.5 – 2 cups of white flour

pinch of salt

1 egg

1 cup (at the most) of tepid water

Mix 1.5 cup of flour and salt. Make an indentation in the flour mixture and add the egg. Mix in the egg breaking it gently. Start adding water a little bit at the time and mix it in. Add enough water to form a dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface until it becomes soft and elastic adding flour and water if needed for about 3-5 minutes. Cover the dough with a bowl or plastic wrap and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

Uncover the dough and knead for another 3-5 minutes. The dough should be very easy to

work with and should not be sticky. Split the dough into 2 balls. Cover one, while you roll out the other into a 1/6 inch thick disk.

Cut into circles of dough using a cookie cutter or a glass. Cover the sheets with a towel to prevent drying out.

Filling

2 medium size yellow squash

2 medium size russet potatoes, skins removed

salt/pepper to taste

olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400F. Split squashes in a half forming boats. Brush squash with olive oil, sprinkle salt/pepper, and bake for 30 minutes. Bring a pot of salted water and boil potatoes for 20 minutes.

Scoop out the flesh of squash, strain potatoes, and mash with a little olive oil until smooth. Using immersion blender makes this a little easier. Adjust salt and pepper.
Assembling

Take a dough circle, place about a teaspoon of filling on one side and close the pocket. Place vareniki on a floured surface until you assemble all of them.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and carefully drop vareniki. Boil on high heat until vareniki start floating on surface. Scoop out carefully.

Eat right away with a little butter, pesto, or any other light and herb sauce.

Aunt Mariam's Orangette

I never toss away orange and grapefruit peal, because I either make a citrus spice mix for hot chocolates and red wine sauces by drying and grinding the peels or a cut them into thicker slices and freeze to make orangettes. I learned this trick from my aunt Mariam, who adds dried orange peels to her Iranian dishes. Aunt Mariam is also a fan of a small chocolate treat in the afternoon that’s why we both share love for orangettes.

Aunt Mariam’s Orangette

1 cup of 2” orange and/or grapefruit peels

4 cups of boiling water

¾ cup of agave or 1 cup of sugar

1 cup of water

32 ounces unsweetened chocolate or 32 ounces of sweetened chocolate of your preference¾ cup of agave (skip if using sweetened chocolate)
½ cup of unsweetened coco powder (optional)

Heat a kettle of water to speed up the process.
Place citrus peels in the boiling water and blanch for 2 minutes. Drain water and rinse peels. Repeat.
Combine agave and water in a pot and bring the mixture to simmer. Add peels, cover, and simmer for 1 hour.
Drain agave syrup in a glass container and place peels in a rack to cool and dry for about 15 minutes. Place a baking sheet under the rack for easy clean-up and reserve agave syrup for a ginger lemonade, margaritas, and poached fruit. The syrup stays fresh for about 2 weeks.
While peels are drying, melt the chocolate*.
Using chopsticks dip each peel in melted chocolate and place back on the rack.Orangettes stay fresh refrigerated for about 3 weeks in all-tight container**
Dust orangettes with cocoa powder. Once all peels are covered in chocolate place the rack in the fridge for 10 minutes or until the chocolate is firm.

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSqcHSewi1Y

** make sure to make them for your aunt.