Almost Late for Orangettes and Mendiants -- Presque en retard pour les orangettes et les mendiants
Originally, mendiants are a specialty from the South of France, as one of the thirteen desserts found on Christmas Eve tables in Provence. The set of dried fruit includes almonds, figs, hazelnuts and raisins. It was believed that the color of each dried fruit symbolized the different robes which monks from the Order of the Mendiants used to wear, hence the name of this sweet food. Nowadays, Mendiants are commonly made with Chocolate, presented in small chocolate rounds topped with dried fruit and nuts.
At the thought of spending a typical Irish Christmas dinner, I knew well that plum pudding would be the unavoidable dessert and quickly realized: "Béa is going to miss chocolate terribly!" It did not fail. Probably very traditional -- I just like chocolate that much -- and not in need to think further, I knew that the gifts bags I wanted to bring with me would contain chocolate. One for him, one for her, one for them, one for....and one pour moi. Bien sûr, I added some extras bags. Well planned, I thought. Except one thing: I had simply forgotten that my mother-in-law only eats milk chocolate -- and would you guess what brand on top? -- and my gifts contained none. How clever was that? I suspect that my unconscious forced me to forget that important detail. She might not have eaten a single one, but did it matter really? We ate them all.
Orangettes
You need:- Orange peels
- Sugar, same weight as the orange peels
- Water, same weight as the orange peels
- Dark chocolate, 70 % cocoa
- Peel the oranges and cut the peels in sticks, 0.2"wide.
- Blanch them 3 times in boiling water, for 3 mns each time (change the water each time).
- In a small pot, mix the sugar and water to make a syrup, and bring to a small boil. Add the orange peels and simmer on low heat for 30 mns.
- Strain and place them on a cooling rack to dry (overnight).
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and dip the orange peels in it, using a fork.
- Strain them and place them on a Silpat or special chocolate sheet (acetate sheet) to cool. Store in a metallic box. Note: Blanching the orange peels helps for the candying process as the orange peels soak more sugar in.
Dark and White Chocolate Mendiants
You need:- White chocolate
- Dark Chocolate 70% cocoa
- Nuts of all sorts such as walnuts, pecans, pistachios, pine nuts
- Dried fruit such candied orange peels, dried apricots and cranberries sliced
- Melt the chocolate using a double-boiler.
- Take a small spoon and form small rounds of chocolate on a silpat. When still warm, top with dried fruits and nuts, as you like.
- Let cool and detach from the silpat when hard.
Orangettes
Ingrédients :- Pelures d'oranges
- Sucre fin, même poids que les pelures d'orange
- Eau, même poids que les pelures d'orange
- Pelez les oranges et coupez la peau en bâtonnets de 0,5 cm de large.
- Blanchissez-les 3 fois dans de l'eau bouillante, pendant 3 mns à chaque fois (changez l'eau).
- Mélangez le sucre et l'eau pour réaliser un sirop. Portez à ébullition et ajoutez alors les bâtonnets d'orange. Faites cuire sur feux doux pendant 30 mns.
- Égouttez et placez les bâtonnets sur une grille pour qu'ils sèchent (24 heures).
- Faites fondre le chocolat au bain-marie et trempez les orangettes dans le chocolat à l'aide d'une fourchette, pour les enrober.
- Égouttez et placez sur une feuille guitare ou un Silpat.
- Laissez sècher à l'air libre et conservez ensuite dans une boîte métallique pendant quelques jours. Remarque : blanchir les pelures d'orange permet aux oranges de mieux confire.
Mendiants au chocolat noir et blanc
Ingrédients :- Chocolat blanc
- Chocolat noir à 70% de cacao
- Noix de toutes sortes telles des noix, pécanes, pistaches et pignons de pin
- Fruits secs tels que des oranges confites, abricots secs et cranneberges, coupées finement
- Faites fondre le chocolat au bain-marie.
- A l'aide d'une petite cuiller, formez de petits ronds sur un Silpat ou une feuille guitare et placez des bouts de noix et de fruits secs dessus. Laissez sècher.
- Décollez-les une fois durcis et dégustez.
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