Merry Christmas! And welcome to Patch to Plate - a section of the blog that will profile easy, healthy recipes that take you from the garden to the table. We wanted to start with a simple festive treat. Cooking at Christmas is my absolute favourite. Food plays such a large part in our Christmas celebrations and the smell of cooking gingerbread, cinnamon and sweet fruits evokes such nostalgia. It’s just the best!

I particularly love to cook for my neighbours, friends and family at this time of year, often peppermint fudge or another type of sweet. This year, I have chosen to make choc-oranges. Can anything beat the smell of a fresh humble orange? Hmm, maybe if the orange was dipped in melted chocolate! Yum! These tasty treats are the perfect after dinner snack with a cup-of-tea or the perfect gift for that neighbour you may bake for. Literally only two ingredients, they are super simple to make and taste just like a Jaffa (but a much healthier version). Whilst not everyone can take a stroll in their backyard and pluck a home-grown orange, on this occasion a store-bought one will do just fine. My orange tree is literally two foot tall, so I am sourcing mine from my local supermarket. I splurged and got good quality chocolate as quality ingredients make all the difference. 

Christmas Choc-Oranges

Ingredients:

Equipment: 

Method: 

1. Thinly slice the oranges into round discs around 3-4mm thick.
2. Place them in the dehydrator and set temperature to around 70 degrees. You want the oranges to crisp up, so I recommend a good 10 hours. Keep checking on them and rotating your levels for even results. Personal taste can come into play here, if you want your oranges more chewy, take them out earlier. If you want them crispy, leave them in longer than the 10 hours. 
3. Remove oranges from dehydrator. Cool completely.
4. Cut the orange discs in half.
5. Melt chocolate in a bowl in the microwave, stirring around every 30 seconds. You want your chocolate to be melted but not cooked.
6. Dip your orange halves in melted dark chocolate half way up the orange. (You may want to sprinkle some sea salt flakes on the chocolate at this point for that “salted chocolate” flavour). 
7. Place on a drying rack until chocolate hardens. 
8. Put in an air-tight jar until ready to eat!

Tips: Don’t have a dehydrator? No worries! You can dry oranges in your oven. Simply place the orange disc on some lined oven trays and cook at around 100 degrees for 2 1/2-3 1/2 hours turning oranges once. Again, keep checking on them till you get your desired crispness. Let them cool in the oven.

You can add coconut flakes or crushed pistachios over the melted chocolate for additional flavour.  You can even try white chocolate as a variation. Get creative!

Storage: Store in a glass sealed jar. They will last around 1 week in a cool, dark pantry.