Keeping it simple with these sugar-coated citrus slices dunked in decadent dark chocolate and sprinkled with Himalayan salt. They’re perfectly candied, zesty and chewy with just enough bite and taste even better paired with chocolate. Perfect holiday giveaways to bump up that sugar rush if you’re looking to switch it up from the traditional Christmas cookies!
PREPARATION TIME: 2 hours, excluding resting period
INGREDIENTS (makes approx. 12 )
- 225 ml water
- 225 g caster sugar
- 2 large regular oranges / blood oranges
- 1 bar of 70% dark chocolate
- Sea salt, to sprinkle (Or a pink Himalayan salt instead)
(Recipe by Donal Skehan)
METHOD
Prepare the oranges by slicing them into thin rounds.
In a large saucepan, bring the water and caster sugar to a boil. Stir until the sugar dissolves completely.
Lower the heat and gently place the orange slices in the liquid. Let the slices simmer in the sugar syrup until the white pith of the orange has become translucent. This process should take around 40 minutes.
Once ready, using a fork or a pair of tongs carefully place the slices onto a wire-rack lined with parchment paper. Leave to dry and harden for 3 to 4 hours or preferably overnight.
Preheat the oven to 100°C.
Place the wire rack into the oven and leave to dry for around 3 hours.
Melt the dark chocolate over a bain marie . Set aside and let it cool completely.
Dip the candied orange into the dark chocolate. You could do halves or dunk it all in, as much or as little as you prefer. Sprinkle with some salt and you’re good to go!
PRESSURE POINTS
While slicing the oranges, try to be as neat and even as possible to yield a better result.
Remember to lower the heat to avoid burning the sugar syrup, things could get messy!
DO NOT attempt to touch the sugar syrup to check on it or taste it, let the slices cool down completely before you do.
Avoid stirring the sugar syrup so that the sugar doesn’t crystalize in the saucepan .
If you give this recipe a go, I’d love to see how it turned out. Leave a comment below and share your pictures on Instagram using the tag #thecookbooklife!
Keep it simple! Happy holidays everyone!
Nikita xx
The Cookbook Life 
Definitely going to try these, lovely to finish the Christmas dinner or to bring as a gift to the party! Any idea if you make them in advance how long you could keep them? 🎅🏼🎄😘
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Sounds like a great idea, they work great as giveaways! Not quite sure, I usually only make a small batch but it should last a few weeks. Candied peels last longer than slices if I’m not wrong! ❤
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These look delicious. Bet pink grapefruit would also be delicious.
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Haha thank you! I bet it would, never tried it myself but sounds good. Although I’m guessing grapefuits would be a tad sour compared to oranges 😛
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Good point. I guess I was thinking the chocolate would sweeten up the sour. Perhaps only milk would do.
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Haha well you’ll have to experiment I guess! Can’t go wrong really, chocolate makes everything better. 😛
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Always a winning combination, in my opinion. 🍊
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Absolutely agree! Chocolate and orange is divine! ❤
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Wow! 😊😊
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Haha thank you Jessica! 😛
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Lovely recipe, Nikita, and yours pics are, as always, ❤
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Aww thank you Natalia, that’s incredibly nice of you to say so! ❤
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Love this Orange Slices. Wonderful blog. Stop back at mine and share your feedbacks. Nice to get connected with you 🙂
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