The festive season is a feast for the eyes with twinkling lights and Christmas trees everywhere, but what I personally love about Christmas are the smells. As soon as I get that first sniff of mulling spices I'm hunting for my snowman headscarf and jingle bell earrings.
Which is why I was thrilled that my colleague Sarah said she would be making festive potpourri! The boutique smells so cosy and inviting and now your home can too if you follow Sarah's simple steps.
The main ingredient is dried orange slices which are super easy to make and smell wonderful whilst they're baking.
1.Take a bag of oranges.
2.Preheat your oven to about 110C
3.Slice each orange width ways into slices no thicker than 1cm (otherwise they’ll take FORVER to dry- trust me) Keep the weird end bits and any other odd shapes you end up cutting.
4.Arrange on a wire rack that fits into you oven.
5.Sprinkle with a weeny bit of sugar. (not vital so don’t panic about this)
6.Bake for about 1.5hrs
7.Turn
8.Bake for another hour or so.
2.Preheat your oven to about 110C
3.Slice each orange width ways into slices no thicker than 1cm (otherwise they’ll take FORVER to dry- trust me) Keep the weird end bits and any other odd shapes you end up cutting.
4.Arrange on a wire rack that fits into you oven.
5.Sprinkle with a weeny bit of sugar. (not vital so don’t panic about this)
6.Bake for about 1.5hrs
7.Turn
8.Bake for another hour or so.
Voila! Done! They will be sticky but will eventually dry out fully.
Next, whether you have sweet little glass dishes like us, ramekins, wine glass, whatever! Put some cinnamon bark or sticks in your chosen vessel, add some dried slices, a bit of star anise, and a few cloves. Finish with gold ribbon that’s curled at the ends…. Et voila!
