Oven-Dried Orange Slice {DIY}

Hello There, Friend.

Over the past few weeks, I've seen countless posts about Oven Dried Orange Slices and natural Christmas decor. And every single time... I fell in love with the look more and more!

Most recently Leigh over at Little By Little Farmhouse wrote a blog post about her natural Christmas decor in their Dining Room, which of course I absolutely loved! I finally had to give in. I had to try this Oven Dried Orange Slice thing out for myself.

So... last weekend when I went out for our weekly grocery shop, I picked up a bag of navel oranges for this little DIY project that I just had to try!

This was the result...

I started by slicing about 3 of the oranges that I picked up. My knife was giving me a hard time... so not all of my slices were evenly cut. But... I went with it. Such is life, right?!?

 

After the oranges were sliced I placed them on a Non-Stick aluminum foil-lined cookie sheet. I placed one half on a wire cooling rack, and the other half directly onto the foil-lined cookie sheet, just to see which method worked best for the drying process.

Once I had all the orange slices on the cookie sheet, I then placed them into the oven on 200 degrees, my oven's lowest setting. I let them dry for about an hour before checking in on them. Then I re-checked them every hour thereafter up to the 3 hrs mark.

After the Orange Slices had been in the oven for 3 hours... I took these gems out of the oven to cool.

While I ended up with quite a few burnt, unusable orange slices, I did have some that turned out pretty perfectly. They fit in nicely with a centerpiece that I put together to place on our Family Room coffee table. So... I guess I'll call this little DIY a win!

Things I learned from this little DIY adventure of mine...

1.) The orange slices that were placed on the wire rack vs. right on the cookie sheet... dried better, as suspected.
2.) The thinner orange slices certainly do dry faster and should have been checked on more frequently, and also taken out as they dried... which would have eliminated how many burnt slices I had in the end.
3.) Remembering to pat dry the oranges before placing them on the cookie sheet... probably would have helped. #MomBrain
4.) Not every DIY will come out perfect... and that's OK! Sometimes all the fun is just in the process!
5.) I miss doing DIY projects!

In the end, I would totally recommend trying this DIY if you are into natural Christmas decor. For your viewing pleasure, Thanh over at Love And Sundays has a lovely, detailed blog post about making these delightful oven-dried orange slices. And while you're checking out blog posts, I recommend popping by Leigh's natural decor post over at Little By Little Farmhouse as well.

If you do decide to make these little Orange Slice gems... be sure to share your experience with me in the comments below. I'd love to hear how it went!

As Always.

Much Love,