Name: Chilled Maple-Glazed Oranges (Reduced Sugar)
Total time: 2 h 40 min
Ingredients: 7 navel oranges (6 whole, scrubbed and dried, 1 juiced to yield ⅓ cup juice); 1 tablespoon unsalted butter; 6 tablespoons maple syrup; 4 whole cloves; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ cup pine nuts , toasted

Why This Recipe Works

Many Italian cookbooks offer recipes for glazed or macerated oranges, but all of them use white sugar, and most of them are bland, cloyingly sweet, and lack complexity. We wanted to use an alternative sweetener to our advantage to create a deeply complex and intensely fragrant dessert. We thought that maple syrup might provide the perfect bittersweet, caramel-y counterpoint to the bright, juicy oranges. We started by macerating sliced oranges in a cooked maple caramel and then poaching them in the oven. But poaching rendered the oranges mushy and soft, and they all but disintegrated at the push of a fork. We ditched the poaching step and decided to develop more orange flavor by searing the orange halves before slicing them. We used the fond that had developed from searing the oranges to flavor the maple caramel, and we added some cloves for a subtle spicy note. These oranges were firmer, but tasters wanted even more orange aroma and deeper caramel flavor. Our thoughts turned to the orange peels: Packed with essential oils, the peels promised an incredible source of flavor if we could somehow bring those oils out. We decided to char the peels to draw out their intense citrus notes and steeped the peels in the caramel sauce. The results were unbelievable: The charred peels gave the caramel a potent orange flavor, bittersweet undertones, and a vibrant complexity that tasters could not resist. A sprinkle of pine nuts gave just enough textural contrast to this perfect, light, and aromatic end to any hearty meal.

Before You Begin

You can substitute Cara Cara or blood oranges for the navel oranges in this recipe, though the sugar content will vary slightly.

Instructions

Using vegetable peeler, remove twenty 2-inch strips orange zest from whole oranges, avoiding pith. Using paring knife, cut away remaining peel and pith from oranges and cut each orange in half lengthwise.

Melt half of butter in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add peels and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer peels to small bowl. Melt remaining butter in now-empty skillet over medium heat. Add orange halves, curved side down, and cook until dark golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer oranges to cutting board and cut crosswise into ½-inch-thick slices; transfer to large bowl.

Add maple syrup to now-empty skillet and bring to boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until mixture thickens and registers 270 degrees, 3 to 4 minutes (syrup will smell slightly burnt). Off heat, carefully stir in browned peels, orange juice, cloves, and salt. Return skillet to medium-low heat and cook, swirling occasionally, until mixture thickens slightly and registers 220 degrees, about 2 minutes.

Strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer into bowl with orange slices. Add some of peels and cloves from strainer to oranges and stir gently to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate, stirring occasionally, for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

To serve, portion oranges and syrup into serving bowls, discarding peels and cloves. Sprinkle with pine nuts and serve.