I know what you’re wondering.

What the hell is a cara cara orange?

I was asking the exact same question a few short days ago.

Here’s how it started. I went out with the intention of making of a blood orange and clementine galette, but, since I’m in Sudbury right now, some foods are a little more difficult to find at the grocery store than others. To make a long story short: there were most definitely no blood oranges in stock. I blame the city’s “only the meat and potatoes” offering and, I suppose, the fact that blood oranges aren’t technically in season until mid-January.

After calling around to a few different stores, including Sudbury’s only specialty fruit shop, it was determined that there were no blood oranges in the entire city. I gave up on that. There were, however, cara cara oranges at a shop in the city’s south end. A quick Google determined that these types of oranges had a rose hue and evoked notes of cherry, blackberry and rose petal. Oooooo pretty. They would have to do.

I then walked five kilometres to purchase said oranges. Worth it.

Turns out getting the oranges were only half the battle.

From here, I learned a new kitchen method: how to “supreme” a citrus fruit. Catie, the blogger who wrote the recipe that inspired this dessert, was luckily a culinary school graduate who explained the technique (this link is actually SO helpful).

Basically, when you supreme a fruit, you are taking off all the peel and the tough, white membrane that sits directly beneath.

While the technique seems a little difficult to master completely, I think I managed to do a pretty okay job with my four oranges (except the first one, which was a little mangled. That photo will never see the light of the Internet. Trust me, though, it wasn’t pretty). My quarter inch orange slices came out looking like tiny, Japanese blossoms.

The oranges and my late addition of raspberries (I decided that I didn’t want to attempt to supreme a tiny clementine) meshed well with the gingerbread crust that I got from Brittany’s pear gingerbread galette post. Add a dollop of whipped cream and you’re set.

Recipe: Cara cara orange and raspberry galette with a gingerbread crust
Inspired by Pitchfork Diaries, crust from B out There
– 4 cara cara navel oranges
– Half a dozen raspberries, sliced in half
– Half a lemon worth of zest
– 2 tsp coarse sugar

Crust
– 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
– 4 tbsp firmly packed brown sugar
– 2 tsp ground ginger
– 2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
– 3/4 tsp ground allspice
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold, unsalted butter, cubed
– 1 large egg yolk
– 4 tbsp dark molasses

Make the crust first.

Whisk together the sugar, salt, and other dry ingredients in a large bowl. Use two sharp knives or a pastry cutter to cut in the butter until it resembles a coarse meal.

In a separate, small bowl, whisk together the molasses and egg yolk and then knead this mixture into the dry ingredients until a dough forms. If it is still really crumbly, add a little water, a teaspoon at a time. Pack the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes.

Carefully roll out the chilled dough onto a piece of parchment paper. It should be about 1/8 inch thick.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

For the filling…
Supreme the four oranges and cut them into 1/4 inch slices. Arrange the slices on top of the rolled out dough, leaving a 1 inch border around the edge.

Sprinkle the oranges with half the sugar and lemon zest. Add the sliced raspberries at random. Fold over the border of dough and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the crust is browned.

Makes a 9-inch galette.