As oranges come into season, I’m working to use up the sorry looking group of old oranges that still lurk on my tree from last year. That’s the beauty of backyard citrus, you can pick as you need rather than having to harvest everything at once.
Enter, candied orange slices. These little beauties turn that overflowing bowl of oranges into glistening treasure. Add a batch or two of these slices to your holiday repertoire. Serve drop-in friends a little plate of slices for a sweet nibble, tie them onto to presents for an organic looking upgrade, or even add a touch of velvet ribbon to hang them on the Christmas tree— they look so pretty with a little bit of light shining through.
In the past, I’ve tried recipes for candied orange slices that were labor intensive with way too many steps for my short attention span. This year, I tinkered with a recipe found in an old Food and Wine magazine and landed on the right formula— I like the slices to be crunchy, not too sweet and with a little bit of spice. Best of all, this rendition is a snap.
Candied Orange Slices
Makes approx. 2 dozen slices
3 large navel or juicing oranges
3 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Slice the end off the oranges and set aside—any ends that are juicy will be used for the sauce later on. Slice the oranges about ¼” to ½” thick. Grab a large pot and bring three cups of water and two cups of sugar to a boil over high heat. Now, squeeze any juice out of those ends you saved into the water and drop in two cinnamon sticks.
Once the water starts to boil, places the orange slices into the stockpot and lower to medium-high heat. Turn the oranges occasionally, they will sort of puff-up and look a bit like bologna does when you sauté it in a pan. Let them go like this for about 20 minutes. Turn down the heat to a low simmer for another 10 minutes. During this phase the liquid will become more syrupy.
Take the orange slices out of the liquid and place them in a single layer on a drying rack. Bake in preheated oven for approximately six hours. The slices are done when they are completely dry and somewhat brittle. Cooking in the sugar water makes the slices glisten, almost as if you coated them with sugar before they went in the over. Added bonus- the sugar water mixture also makes a terrific syrup. Strain out the cinnamon sticks, pour it into a jar and keep in the fridge to use in those holiday cocktails.
I’d never in my life thought to sauté bologna and just the thought of it made me laugh so hard probably because I’m thinking of the Oscar Meyer of my childhood, jingle included! Thanks for the levity this morning and also for this beautiful post. You leave me inspired, as always!!
These orange slices are sublime!!!!
Unfortunately, I keep eating them!
Reading about the oranges – makes me feel Happy and in the Christmas spirit.
That name tag looks vaguely familiar…. I am glad you got a picture of it before I gobbled mine down with the kids;)
Guessing this would work with other citrus as well i.e. lemons, limes, grapefruit…. ?
Hi Cindy! I don’t see why it wouldn’t work on the other citrus. The only one I wouldn’t try would be tangerines because the skin is too thin and won’t hold up during the cooking process.
what if you just baked them directly, without cooking them first?
That would work, RT but they will just be dried orange slices and not candied.
These look delish. I’m going to try them, but use my dehydrator instead of an oven…
Thanks for sharing this great recipe! I made a version using cuties and LOVED it! (http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2015/02/candied-cuties.html)
Thank you for sharing this idea! I am including these treats with a birthday present for a friend. My boys tell me our house smells like Thanksgiving. They keep asking if they can taste the cranberries…
Terrific. Turn out beautifully although I cooked them a little longer to thicken the syrup and dried them in a dehydrated at 135 degrees. Thanks so much. I love nibbling on them and don’t feel too guilty.
Hi, could you use stevia rather than sugar in the syrup mix?
Sorry but the oven is turned to 200 degrees C or F?
Thanks for your question. All recipes are in Fahrenheit.
Have you ever reused the syrup for another batch? I thought maybe you could add liquid to sugar ration and add cinnamon and go again. What do you think? Going for bulk. Lots of oranges this year in California. ☺️
Hi, those slices looks amazing! Could you please tell me how long are the slices valid for? I’m a bartender and i’d like to make it for my
Would this work with a sweetener like coconut palm, or stevia?