Citrus Week Day Three :Blood Orange

Blood oranges are definitely one seasonal citrus variety that people get behind and buy when available. They are the ingredient in countless drinks and cocktails, used for their juice and color.

The blood oranges that I've had so far this season have been okay. No life changing red-hued navel going to show up on my doorstep. I'm enjoying my low acid treats, and decided to do a little more with these.

Blood orange drinks are popular in Italy.  Often in blood orange season I come across blood orange juice. It's good. Not as sweet and acidic as regular orange juice, blood orange juice lets subtler flavors come into play.

After work, I wanted to use some blood oranges up.

I made some puff pastry fold-overs.

Blood orange simple syrup with cinnamon and clove, stewed golden raisins with blood orange zest and orange juice, and pieces of fresh blood orange, all went into the middle of some puff pastry, folded over on itself to make tiny pockets

I don't bake. This was frozen puff pastry. I didn't really know what was going on. It was still delicious. To be honest, I don't like this picture. It looks like a bunch of chicken wings! (and it's making me hungry) I burned the bottom of the puffs (still good!) and it was all just a little messy.

The plus side is that they were easy and tasty, and I have left over syrup for cocktails.

I started to make the blood orange simple syrup just to have, and the puff pastry in the freezer came to mind. As the simple syrup was bubbling, I stewed big golden raisins in orange juice and water, with the zest of an entire blood orange.

The fat sweet raisins, and the tart fresh orange was a great combination.

It was really easy to make, since the dough was ready-made.
When they came out, I poured more of the cinnamon-y blood orange syrup over the top and let it soak in for a second. My roommates and I ate all of them in no time.