Clementines in vodka

This is my first time blogging. I received James Peterson's "Glorious French Food" book as a gift recently, and I have been wanting to make his clementines a l'eau-de-vie since I first read the recipe. I hope it will be a fortuitious initiation into the blogosphere. The clementines are marvelous right now and abundant at the market.

The ingredient list is quite simple

24 small clementines

7 cups granulated sugar

2 cups good quality vodka

wash the clementine and remove any stems, blanch the clementine and drain

when the clementines are cool enough to handle, prick them with a pin several times, which will allow the syrup to penetrate to the center of the clenentines

combine 3cups of sugar with two quarts of water in a heavy bottomed non-aluminum kettle, bring to a gentle simmer, add the clementines and simmer for ten minutes

remove to a heat proof bowl, cover and let sit over night at room temperature

repeat this process three times in three days, reducing the simmering time to five minutes

drain the clementines and discard the syrup

combine the remaining four cups of sugar with three quarts of water and bring to the simmer, add the clementine(handle gently as they become soft), simmer five minutes, cool and let sit overnight at room temperature

repeat this once or twice more (depends on the size of your clementines)but becareful not to cook too much or they will become mushy

drain them once more, reserving the syrup, reduce the syrup to about four cups, let the syrup cool and add the vodka

pour the mixture ofver the clementines making sure that is cover them, if it doesn't add more vodka

store chilled for two to three weeks in a glass jar

I've learned alot on this first effort-it's a pretty disorganized post next time I'll try to organize it better