A little while ago I shared with you my recipe for candied orange slices. They are brilliant for decorating orange and citrus cakes with, but they also make sweet treats when they’re dipped in chocolate. My chocolate dipped candied orange slices are brilliant bagged up and given as gifts. They’re an ideal little treat if you’ve got a glut of oranges to use up too.

I like to make a big batch of these at Christmas and give little bags of them as presents for people. They’re also a really nice treat to take away on holiday to nibble with a nice glass of good red wine in the evening.

Chocolate Dipped Candied Orange Slices

Ingredients:
2 oranges, fairly finely sliced
1 mug of caster sugar
1 mug of boiling water (add more if required)
8 drops of Spice Drops Orange Zest Extract
150g good quality dark chocolate

Method:
In a sauté pan gently warm the water and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Add your Spice Drops Orange Zest Extract and put your slices of orange in the pan.

Gently poach the orange slices for around an hour or so with the lid off the pan. Make sure you turn them over every 15 minutes or so. You want the oranges to go translucent; once they do, they’re ready.

Carefully lay your orange slices on a cooling rack (make sure you put some paper towel underneath to catch any drips) and leave to cool and solidify overnight.

When the candied oranges have dried and set, melt your chocolate in a bain marie (a glass bowl over a saucepan with an inch or so of water underneath, make sure the water doesn’t touch the glass bowl) until it’s smooth and silky. Dip your slices in the melted chocolate and leave to set for an hour or so. Enjoy with a cup of good coffee.

If you want to really boost the orange flavour in this treat, add around 4 drops of Spice Drops Orange Zest Extract to the chocolate as you melt it.