Back in the day, when I was young :) making Christmas decorations was common place. Popcorn was strung to make garland, candy canes were hung on the tree sometimes with little eyes and pipe cleaner antlers, paper snowflakes and dried oranges were also adorning the festive tree. It seems fancy store bought decorations then became popular also with endless aisles of ribbons, tinsels and bows. This l Christmas hand made decor is uber popular with dried oranges trending high up there. I had to revive my childhood and get creating.
The large navel oranges were sliced thinly.
Arranged on a cookie sheet and put in a 200 degree oven for 4 hours. However part way thru I needed to cook a pizza for supper so removed them to the counter, cooked the pizza, turned the temperature back to 200 and slid them in for the remaining time. DO NOT DO THAT :)
The oven needed to return to the low 200 before putting them in as this is the result. EPIC FAIL!!
This was NOT the look I was going for tee hee
But I did manage to salvage some. I hope my failure lesson prevents others from trying to multitask and create.
The salvaged ones did darken in the pulp area over the next few weeks so for sure watch them even in a 200 degree oven after 3 plus hours and take out a bit before desired color.
Shared at these link up parties
I tried drying oranges this year too and also had an epic fail. I had the oven on at 175℉ for several hours and they were still soggy so 200℉ it will be my next attempt.
ReplyDeleteI think 200 for 3 plus hours would be perfect... do not interrupt this temp though LOL
DeleteMerry Christmas!!
Haha - I'm so glad I'm not alone in the epic fail department! You did a great salvaging job though, and your tree is lovely! Thanks so much for sharing ALL the process! 😊
ReplyDeleteHAHA not everything is perfect in the real world is it? :) thanks for your kind words
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