Is there anything quite as festive as the smell of oranges? The smell takes me back to when I was younger and my Mum would do this around Christmas time and it just makes the house smell UH-mazing. While they are baking they smell absolutely wonderful, and then once they are baked and dried out, they make lovely decorations too! You can string them into a garland or hang them on the tree, but I added mine into a bowl with some cinnamon scented pinecones and cinnamon stick for some really easy potpourri that makes a beautiful decoration and centrepiece.
They are really simple to make, I just sliced up some oranges into thin slices and laid them out on some kitchen towel to absorb any excess juice. I left them to drain there for a while, and put an extra layer of towel on top to cover both sides. Once most of the juices had drained, I put them on a baking tray and put them in the oven on a low heat, around 80c, for around 2-3 hours. When they were dried out and firm, I just took them out and left them to cool before putting them in the bowl. They make such a simple yet such a lovely decoration for your home and if anything, are the perfect way to make your house smell extremely festive if you are having guests over, so see that as your prime time to get baking your oranges. They also last really well, my mum had hers for years. As long as you store them in air tight plastic containers and not just a cardboard box, otherwise mice in the attic have a wild January and come December your oranges may have little nibbles out of them!
