Chocolate Orange Sticks

This recipe comes from my Mum.  She used to make these most Christmas's (is that a word?) for the 'grown ups' who enjoyed that abomination combination of chocolate and orange.  In my younger days I assumed that I would learn to love these just as much as my Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents, thinking it took the more mature palate to appreciate such things ... clearly I still have a lot of growing up to do if that is the case!

While Sis In Law and I were in the Lake District last month she spotted some Chocolate Orange Sticks at one of the multitude of chocolate shops we visited.  I promptly emailed my Mum and asked her for the recipe and this is what I got;

Chocolate Orange Sticks
2 large, thick skinned oranges
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
125g dark chocolate

Cut oranges into quarters; peel away flesh with fingers; leaving thick pith in tact.
Cut quarters into strips 1cm thick
Drop into boiling water, return to boil. Repeat twice.
Combine water and sugar in pan, stir over heat till sugar is dissolved.
DO NOT BOIL
Add orange strips, bring to boil, reduce heat,simmer uncovered 5-10 mins or till translucent.
Stir occasionally
Remove to rack, dry overnight
Melt chocolate, dip rind, place on baking paper to set

Of course I had a couple of questions regarding this;
Me: "What kind of orange is best?  How are you supposed to know if it is thick skinned or not?"
Mum: "Naval oranges are best but I use Valencia."
Me: ..... ????? .... but I never bothered to ask!  I assume Naval oranges aren't around in Summer time back home.
Me: "Do I really need to boil a pan of water 3 times?  Can't I just drain the orange peel and add it back to the same water?"
Mum: "No.  Boiling it three times removes the bitterness, you need fresh water each time."
Me: Thinks to self "She's a clever old Mum!" [no offence to the world 'old', its meant as a term of endearment and not as a reference to age ... can't help but think I'm digging the hole deeper ...]

So with these instructions I set to and made my very first batch of Chocolate Orange Sticks.  It was pretty straight forward actually, although there was a small stint of panic when the peel started to curl after the first lot of boiling, subsequent boiling and liberal dosing in dark chocolate remedied this issue though.  Mum had also mentioned that 125g of dark chocolate isn't enough for dipping the peel in after it has been candied.  I started off by melting 125g of dark chocolate and then added more to it for tempering purposes.  Of course I ended up with way more tempered chocolate than I actually needed so I used the leftovers to make Hot Chocolate Orange Sticks (I'm hoping the orange flavour has been imparted as part of the 'dunking' process).

Of course I've not tasted them (heaven forbid such a travesty to my taste buds!) so I can't comment on the flavour but that may actually be a good thing.  They look just like the ones Mum used to make though and they smell like the ones Mum used to make so I'm hedging my bets ;0)