The Sardinian Kitchen

Orange zest candies - Aranzada

Today I want to share with you the recipe for Aranzada, a typical dessert from Sardinia, my region in Italy.

I come from a tiny village in the East coast of Sardinia that is famous for its oranges, generally the second week of April there is the famous “Oranges festival”. I took some images a long time ago during the event, if you love citrus fruits and you want to know more click Here.

Oranges are in season right now, so I thought to take this opportunity to make these zingy sweet bites made from orange peel, honey and almonds. For the orange zest to lose its bitterness, you need a bit of advance preparation. You must soak the skins one day before or to achieve best results, a few days in advance. 

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Makes 8 aranzadas

Preparation time: 10minutes + a few days soaking

Cooking time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

50g unwaxed orange peel
(around 6 oranges)

40g peeled almonds

15g caster sugar

60g honey

INSTRUCTIONS

First thing with a potato peeler peel the oranges making sure you will remove the white pith.

Thinly cut the peel into strips, mine were about 3mm wide and 5mm long.  Allow them to soak in warm water overnight or for a few days for best result.

Change the water at least twice a day. 

Drain the orange peel and pat dry them. 

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Roughly chops the almonds into even-sized pieces. Spread them on a baking tray and toast them in the oven for  5 minutes.

In a large pot heat up the sugar and honey. Keep stirring until it is brown and it coats the back of a spoon. When it reaches a slightly stringy and sticky consistency it is ready. Pour in the orange zest and cook for 1 minute.

Stir in the almonds as well and quickly spoon it into small cake cases. You’ve got to be as fast as you can to avoid the mixture from cooling down completely and becoming rock hard.