Candied Lemon Slices
Used on Top of Lemon Cake
Ingredients:
- 1 lemons
- 1 cups sugar
- 1 cups water
Directions:
- Prepare an ice-water bath; set aside.
- Cut lemon into 12 paper-thin slices; discard seeds and ends of rind.
- Bring a medium saucepan of water to a rolling boil.
- Remove from heat, and add lemon slices; stir until softened, about 1 minute. Drain, and immediately plunge slices into ice-water bath. Drain.
- Bring sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a medium skillet, swirling to dissolve sugar.
- When liquid is clear and bubbling, reduce heat to medium-low. Add lemon slices, arranging them in one layer with tongs. Simmer (do not let boil) until rinds are translucent, about 1 hour.
- Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment. Let stand until ready to serve.
- Cut a round of parchment paper to fit just inside a medium pot; set aside.
- Bring sugar and 3 cups water to a simmer in pot, stirring until sugar has dissolved.
- When liquid is clear and ubbling, reduce heat to medium-low.
- Add citrus slices, arranging them in a slightly overlapping layer.
- Cover with the parchment paper round. Place a cake pan on top of parchment to keep slices submerged. Simmer (do not boil) until rinds are almost translucent, about 40 minutes.
- Let cool completely in syrup.
- Candied citrus slices can be stored in syrup up to 1 week.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set a wire rack over sheet. Transfer candied citrus to rack. Let stand until dry and slightly firm, about 8 hours.
- Peeled the skin with a vegetable peeler
- bring cold water and peel to a rolling boil. Drain. Repeat. For orange peel, I might do this one or two times; for grapefruit, 6 or 7. Taste it. When the peel is tender, cook it in the sugar syrup.
- drain off the boiling water, refill with cold water and bring to a boil again. The more you repeat this step, the less bitter it will be. Be careful, though, because too much boiling will render your candy tasteless. 2-3 times is usually
- Bring sugar and 2 cups water to a rolling boil in a medium-size, heavy skillet, swirling skillet to dissolve sugar.
- When liquid is clear and bubbly, reduce heat to medium-low.
- Add lemon slices in a single layer.
- Simmer until rinds are translucent, 30 to 35 minutes.
- The lemon peel was sticky so I dipped it in sugar and that made it easier to chop.
- Transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Let cool completely.
- I allow the candy to dry out until it's tacky, then toss it with sugar to finish it. (You can use colored and/or flavored sugar too.) This allows me to store it dry in containers without it getting sticky. You can dry it in a cool oven (200 degrees or less) or simply let it sit out for a few hours.