Orangettes (candied chocolate orange peel)

I was inspired by Smitten Kitchen's orangettes and decided to try making some of my own:

Peeling the oranges... 

Blanching them in boiling water to get rid of the bitterness. 
Do this 3 times. I added cinnamon and 
fresh ginger to add a little spice. 

Simmer in simple syrup (1:1 sugar-water ratio) for 1 hour.  
I used vanilla sugar but plain white sugar works too. 

Let dry - this can take more than 24 hours 

if you live in a humid climate like I do!

Dip in melted dark chocolate, then let 

dry...and try not to eat them too quickly! :)

Gluten-free vanilla cupcakes with berry cream cheese frosting

A co-worker recently was diagnosed with gluten intolerance and has been having trouble finding gluten-free food (not just baked goods, but also a lot of Chinese food, as soy sauce contains wheat), so I decided to bake some gluten-free cupcakes to cheer her up.

I've never baked gluten-free before (besides some meringues), so I did some Googling and was initially a bit intimidated by the recipes I found, which all seemed to require unfamiliar and exotic-sounding ingredients like xanthan and guar gum. Luckily I found a gluten-free plain white flour mix by Dove's Farm (UK) at the supermarket, which can be used in place of regular wheat flour in most recipes.

Here's the recipe for the gluten-free cupcakes that I made. They came out lighter and looser than regular cupcakes, but I think my coworker will be happy to have these baked goods as they're equally tasty, even without the denser crumb of cakes made with regular wheat flour.