How To Make Dried Orange Slices for your Natural Christmas

I have always wanted to make orange slices to use for my Christmas decorations and decided that since I was going with this Natural Christmas theme this year, I thought it was the perfect time to try this diy.

I’m going to share with you the directions, but let me share some tips with you first.

TIP 1. – Be sure you have PLENTY OF TIME.

These will take you a few hours to bake and you want to be sure you are flipping your orange slices about every 30 minutes so that they are baking evenly on both sides. This is so there is no liquid left in your slices.

TIP 2. – Be sure you THINLY SLICE your oranges.

This will help cut down on your baking time and will also help them bake evenly.

TIP 3. – Be sure to BLOT OUT THE JUICE.

You will want to use a paper towel to blot out the juice. This will help speed up the baking process.

TIP 4. – Use a COOLING RACK on your baking sheet.

I used a cooling rack instead of placing the slices directly on the parchment paper. I don’t know if this helped or not, because I didn’t read anywhere that I should do that. It just made sense to elevate them to help them bake evenly.

TIP 5. – Be sure to FLIP the slices every 30 minutes.

This is also to ensure they bake evenly. Even though I had them on the cooling rack, I still flipped them. Baking them evenly is very important, as you don’t want your oranges to mold.

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
  2. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and place a cooling rack on top
  3. Thinly slice oranges and lay on paper towel.
  4. Dab oranges with paper towels to absorb juices.
  5. Place oranges on prepared baking sheet and place in oven.
  6. Bake for 2-3 hours (maybe longer if your oven cooks slow) turning every 30 minutes.

That’s it! You will pretty much know when they are done by the color and the texture. Other than this being a little time consuming, it’s really easy! AND it made the house smell really good too!