Tapioca, rice pudding, bread pudding, & custard are some of the most loved comfort-food desserts.  Easy to make, not super sweet, and good for you at the same time. To serve any of these desserts for a special occasion add a spoonful of this compote to add some colour and a bit of zing without overwhelming the gentle quality of the dessert.  It would probably work well on a bowl of rich vanilla ice cream as well.

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Enough for 12

Ingredients

6 navel oranges

¼ c sugar

¼ c water

1” piece of ginger, peeled and sliced thinly

1 cinnamon stick

Optional: 2T Grand Marnier Liqueur

Directions

Segment the oranges:

Cut both ends off. 

Stand on one end on a cutting surface, and using a sharp knife, cut away the peel in strips down to the base.  Curving the knife to work closely to the round outline of the orange.  You will be leaving a very thin slice of orange attached to the peel.  This is so you’ve cut away the membrane from the outside of the orange.

Holding the orange over a bowl, slice between the orange segment and its membrane. Put the segments into a bowl as you work.

Work all the way round the orange, giving a final squeeze to the handful of empty orange left in your hand.

For this recipe, the orange juice won’t be used.  So I do what any smart person would do.  I drink the juice.  Just to keep the clutter down in the fridge.

In a small saucepan, bring the water, sugar, ginger and cinnamon to a boil over medium high heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.  Continue to boil until syrupy, about 2 minutes.  Add in Grand Marnier if using.

Pour this over the prepared orange segments.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

To serve, arrange the orange slices and a bit of syrup on top of your dessert.  The ginger pieces are really yummy, but can have quite a kick of heat, so you might not want to put them on your guests’ desserts.  Best to save them for yourself.  For later.