MARCH 4, 2010 ISSUE
Mountain Living
Tangerines Illuminate Winter
Tangerine LanternTangerines are often featured when their season is just beginning and most of them are still pretty tart. The fragrance does invoke Christmas and they do fit perfectly into the toe of a stocking but the best tangerines are ripening now. Look for several varieties of larger, sweeter fruit piled in beautiful pyramids among the contrasting limes and grapefruits, enjoy their easy 'zipper' peel and even make them light up dark winter nights.
Yes, you can make a lantern out of nothing but a tangerine, some oil and a match. You can use other citrus fruits, too, like oranges but the easiest ones are nice big tangerines. The biggest ones are in the market now and since you may have run out of snow day activities try making tangerine lamps.
Select the largest tangerines and cut them in half around the equator with a very sharp knife so you have a good, clean cut. Work with the stem end half first which is the one that was attached to the tangerine tree. You can recognize that end by seeing the little brown part in the middle.
Use a small spoon to remove one small half section of fruit. The less juice you spill the better so try to remove the section in one piece. It is fun to eat the fruit as you work. Once you have removed the first section it gets easier. Working with the spoon or your nimble fingers or both, continue to work around the tangerine, removing each section carefully. You want to leave the white stuff in the middle so don't remove it with the sections.
Once all of the fruit has been eaten you need to dry the shell if there is any juice. Next, it gets a coating of oil. Use fragrant extra virgin olive oil if you have it but any regular cooking oil will do. Make sure the top is coated along with the inside and the white stuff in the center.
Place the tangerine half onto a small plate and pour in a little more oil so that there is a small pool in the center with the white stuff coming out of it. Now it is time to light that stuff in the middle that has become your lantern wick. It may light right away or it may take quite some time. This is a lot easier now that we have long lighters because the first ones, made decades ago, used a lot of matches. Eventually the center will light and there will be a lovely flame, fueled by the olive oil. You can blow it out and relight it and you can add more oil to fuel your special lantern.
Advanced techniques include cutting a small hole in a tangerine and removing the segments through it so that you have more of a globe and making a lantern top. You can remove the fruit sections from the other half of the tangerine, cut a star-shaped hole in it, coat it with olive oil and place it on top of your burning lamp.
You can tell a lot about people when you let them make tangerine lanterns with you. Some complain it is lot of work but others realize how special it is to turn a fruit into a fragrant glowing light.
Tangerine Cookies
This is an updated version of an old fashioned 'tea cake' that was made by grinding whole oranges by hand and creaming shortening with a hand mixer. They have a wonderful light texture and look and taste like tiny little cakes. You can still use that technique but a food processor makes it faster and more fun. Yes, you use the whole tangerine. The peel has the most flavor and also makes the finished cookies a beautiful golden color. It can be a little tricky to guess how many tangerines you need so cut them up and measure them for accuracy. This is best when you make the dough and chill it so plan ahead. Yes, I really do sift the flour, even if the bag says it is 'pre-sifted', often using a wire strainer, which works just a well as a real flour sifter. If you don't have buttermilk you can use regular milk or make your own 'sour milk.' Add a teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar to a cup of milk, stir, and let it sit at room temperature until it has thickened. Even better, go and buy some buttermilk because you can use it in salad dressings and to do more baking. Because it is cultured, it lasts a long time in the refrigerator. I use a cookie sheet (which does not have any sides like a baking pan) and top it with a Silpat liner so the cookies bake well and do not stick to the pan. Tangerine Cookies are wonderful warm from the oven with a nice cup of tea and, probably because they contain whole fruit, they keep very well, too.
Ingredients:
1 large, a couple of medium or 4 very small tangerines
1.5 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3.75 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
Preparation:
Wash tangerines thoroughly and dry. Cut into chunks (do not peel.) Remove any large areas of white pith or stringy parts along with all of the seeds or parts of seeds, if necessary. Place the tangerine chunks into a cup measure, squishing down until you have one whole cup of tangerine.
Place the tangerine chunks into the food processor and process until they turn into tangerine slush. Add the sugar and salt process again until the sugar has mostly dissolved and the tangerines are completely liquefied.
While the processor is turning the sugar and tangerines into orange slurry, combine the buttermilk and vanilla in a glass measuring cup. Sift the flour with the baking powder and baking soda, making sure to get rid of any lumps.
Cut the butter into small cubes, add to the processor and combine until you cannot see any separate pieces of the butter. Add the buttermilk and vanilla mixture and process until, once again, everything is combined very well.
Last, add the flour mixture and this time be very careful about processing just until the flour is incorporated. Use the pulse button if your processor has one and, although you do want to make sure there are not any pockets of flour left, be very careful that you do not continue to process too long or your cookies will be tough instead of soft and delicate.
Remove the dough from the food processor, place into an airtight container and refrigerate at least a couple of hours or you can let it chill overnight.
When you are ready to bake preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Place small spoonfuls of dough onto a lined or greased and floured cookie sheet and bake until set and beginning to turn golden. This takes about eight minutes but test your oven and see how many minutes it takes. You do not want to brown these cookies or they will be overcooked.
Let cool on a wire rack and store, tightly covered.
Makes about five dozen cookies.
To make a comment, ask a question or find out more about sources, contact Amy at amycookehcp@bellsouth.net.
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