I'd be more inclined to sit them in front of a fan than to warm them at all.

I would try the microwave, and if the sugar melts, re-sugar them.

Agree with using a fan for sir circulation, not a microwave.. Heat liquefies. Candied orange should be sticky but dry under the crunchy sugar crust.

I assume you are boiling them first in simple syrup?

The recipes that I remember range from drying for 2-4 hours and then putting them into airtight containers to drying for 1-2 days. It's a huge range. I would air dry them before trying anything else and see how they are. If they're going into cookies I suspect that the margin for perfection is wider than if you were using them as a garnish.

Ive candied orange slices and dried them overnight night. if you are afraid they wont dry maybe not too warm environment with simply circulating air, and on a wire rack.

What delight are you making?

Because this is twice today that candied orange peels have come up in my life, I decided I needed to know more about them. I checked the Epicurious recipe. It noted that a by-product of making the candied peels is orange-infused simple syrup and admonished one to be sure to save it. YUM!

Yes, KSWL, I cooked them in simple syrup.

Lisa, I am making these:https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/marcus-samuelsson/aquavits-gingersnap-cookies-recipe-1938331

Yes, BBSTx, thinking of of using mine in club soda for an upscale "Fanta."

There is also a much more detailed version here: https://www.brighteyedbaker.com/diy-candied-orange-peel/

Where else did you come across candied orange peels?

One of my sister’s best friends makes candied orange peels to garnish old-fashioneds. He and his wife will be houseguests of mine this weekend, along with DS and DBIL. I’m hoping the friend brings a few garnishes for our cocktails.

He made candied orange sections dipped in dark chocolate for dessert recently. I’m hoping for a dinner invitation next time I’m in their town!

Wait -- are the peels incorporated into the food, or used as a topping/garnish?

If they're being added into the food, I don't see any need to dry them out first.

Years back there was a very nice hotel, IIRC The Pierre, that was a standard for large lunch presentations in the investing world. Waiters would serve the lunch silver service style, then quietly disappear, leaving a cake stand of cookies on each table. This is where I learned to love elephant ears, and candied grapefruit peel (TDF). Both were always on those trays!

My mom had the Women’s Day cookbook encyclopedia. The recipes might be dated snd mediocre but I was highly influenced by the photos. I believe this is where I first saw chocolate dipped crystallized grapefruit peel. There was also a fabulous picture of peche melba; gorgeous poached whole peaches stacked in a pyramid with softly piped whippedcream, and drizzles of creme de menthe ( cant remember where the requisite raspberry sauce was in all of this).

I made candied orange slices about twice weekly in 2020 and 2021; such a pretty garnish and they look great with chocolate shards or raspberries or pomegranate.

ROFLMAO Feathers! Yes --- these were large banquets so it prob was some poor newbie's job. Note they were not even dipped in chocolate but still memorable.

BBSTX - the syrup cooled and I tried some in club soda. I think it's weird. It is mostly just sweet, with a strong note of pith, and a hint of orange. Some pith on the peel is desirable to offset the sugar coating, but pith flavor in the simple syrup is a "no" for me.

Peach melba is a great dessert! I didnt know it had creme be menthe tho?!

Carol, they are to be finely chopped. But I assume the recipe assumes you have "normal" candied peel so I do want to try to dry it out.

I made candied lemon for a bday lemon pie garnish. They simmered for quite awhile but after cooling I used them right away. As mentioned the lemon syrup by product is DELISH!

Related note --- I notice a lot of cocktails served lately with very very thin slices of dried fruit like pineapple rings and grapefruit slices. So thin they are almost see thru. YUM.

What a disappointment! I had high hopes for the orange-infused simple syrup. Bummer!

YMMV, Right now my candied peels look like worms so maybe it's me

A little OT, but I can't imagine another thread where I could post this as being somewhat related. Years ago, I became friends with a woman who took sugar cubes and rubbed them all over the outside of oranges (the peels). It infused the orange oil in the peel into the sugar cubes, which she then used in cocktails (and something else, I can't recall...maybe with tea)? The oil does not disintegrate the cubes and they can be stored in an air tight container for quite a while.

eta: I tried to find a recipe/method with google to refresh my memory and see if it had other uses. I didn't find any but this pic, which had no info attached, but it's exactly what she used to do:

eta again: I found a reference to Jacque Pepin using this technique when making Crepes Suzette, so maybe she did something like that, too

https://onecravingatatime.wordpress.com/tag/crepes/

Hmm, interesting. I was reading a paean to candied grapefruit earlier tonight and the author got Texas Ruby Reds without wax .... maybe the wax is one reason the syrup isn't so hot. But the peel seems yummy.

If they're to be finely chopped and incorporated into the recipe, I wouldn't bother drying them out - that just seems like extra bother to me.

However, if humidity is low, you might just spread them out on some parchment paper and let them dry out that way.

Jacques Pepin puts them directly into sugar before drying...

I had mine on a wire rack over night but they are still limp and wet. The sugar keeps getting absorbed so they don't have that crystalline cast they should. I did toss them in sugar when hot.

One recipe used a candy thermometer, which i don't own (or can't find) and I would bet my issue was that I should have used a higher heat on the simple syrup.

However they taste great. I wish I could figure out how to make them correctly, but I would be the only one to eat them so... maybe not.

I would blanch them in plain water a couple times, simmer in simple syrup, drain and dry on a rack. toss to coat in sugar and then they should be ready to use or store.

How about baking them for a bit in your oven on the convection cycle??

If you are incorporating them into cookies, I really don't think that if they are a little moist, it will be an issue. The cookies sound delicious!

I thought they turned out well. They were popular for sure. This was for a Thursday night cooking club with the theme of Marcus Samuelson. The rind, and addition of white pepper, is what makes them a tad different.

I brought some on a platter and bagged the rest for guests to take home. I think you def need to play with the cooking time. I cooked some in my gas oven and some in my electric, and i preferred a slow low heat that made them flat and chewy to the higher electric heat which made them smaller and a tad puffy.

We are back in Maine now and we had guests last night. I did another panini bar and it was big hit. Someone said that it was a psuedo-craft. I had people assemble their own sandwiches (vs in the past when I would hand out sheets for them to place an order). Then I brushed the sandwiches w butter and put them in the press. Everybody made half sandwiches so they could switch it up; i can also fit 8 halves on the press so it was done at the same time rather than holding some in the oven.

Served it with this soup (very good, note the honey!).

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013383-tomato-soup

For dessert, I did baked apples. The WF had local Macintoshes and they had a wonderful perfume!

I liked these a lot. They had a bright flavor. Unusual to me that there was no cinnamon (but I suppose there is some in the cookie). I think leaving on the bottom half of the peel gives more structure, and cooking the peels in the pan juices made a delicious syrup.

I halved the amount of lemon rind and chopped it very fine. I did not have dates so used raisins. We had a choice of french vanilla (all the men) and plain full fat yogurt with a soupcon of maple syrup (all the women). I baked mine in indi'l mini Staubs.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/fall-air-baked-apples/15523/

Oh! Those look wonderful!

Just have to chime in that the last time I was in Halifax, we were seated at the bar in a very cute little restaurant and the back wall was lined with clear glass jars full of drink garnishes and the like. Many of them appeared to be candied fruit peel or slices. They looked luscious and created one of those scenes that makes you want to order one of everything that contains those ingredients (I am a huge citrus fan). Great marketing strategy. I may have ordered more than one drink that night.