by On Monday this week, I received the nicest little gift box from my Director in the mail. It was filled with lots of little fun items, and one of the items in the box was a package of chocolate dipped orange slices, and OMGosh!… they were so yummy! I had a couple orange slices with my morning cup of green tea most days this week. It was hard to ration the orange slices to make them last all week.
I thought about ordering a new package of the orange slices from Dardiman’s, but then I realized that my Ninja Foodie grill also has a dehydrator function on it, and these chocolate dipped orange slices would be very easy to make. I do recommend trying to find organic mandarin oranges since the rind is left on the orange slices. Eating orange peels is extremely healthy; they contain 4 times more health benefits than the inside of the orange.
A mandolin is helpful to slice the oranges in paper thin slices.
The dehydrator worked perfectly. This would also work in the oven set at a low temperature. And when dipped in the chocolate, they tasted just like the ones in my package. The best part of these is that there is no sugar added to the oranges (except the sugar in the dark chocolate that is used to dip the oranges in). You could also leave the oranges plain w/o dipping in chocolate (they are yummy plain, too), but the chocolate is a terrific addition to the orange slices. An addictive snack!
I was able to buy a set of 3 dehydrator racks on Amazon for my Ninja Foodie. They worked perfect, and allows me to dehydrate 3 little Mandarins (or Tangerines) at a time instead of just 1. I also tried dehydrating a larger Cara Cara orange this week, and it worked perfectly also (although the little Tangerines & Mandarins were a little bit sweeter in the peel than the Cara Cara was).
I used Coconut Oil to thin the melted vegan chocolate chips because coconut oil also has a few health benefits.
Equipment
- Oven or Dehydrator
Ingredients
- 2 Mandarin or Clementine oranges (or similar variety)
- ¼ cup Vegan Dark Chocolate Chips
- 1 teaspoon Coconut Oil
Instructions
Orange Slices Dehydrated in the Oven:
- Preheat oven to 135° F (57.22° C).
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Using a mandolin, slice the oranges in ⅛" slices.
- Place slices in single layer on lined baking sheet, and put in oven for 4 hours.
- Flip slices about halfway through.
- Remove when slices are dehydrated and no moisture remains.
- If leaving plain, place in an airtight container and store in a cool dry place. Or if dipping in chocolate, refer to instructions below.
Orange Slice Dehydrated in Ninja Foodie:
- Set on Dehydrator setting at 135 degrees F for 4 hours.
- No need to line the foodie's tray with parchment paper, just put the slices on the tray (or on dehydrator racks) in the machine.
- Close the lid, and the machine will automatically shut off after it finishes the number of hours you had set.
- If leaving plain, place in an airtight container and store in a cool dry place. Or if dipping in chocolate, refer to instructions below.
Chocolate Dip
- Place chocolate chips in small bowl
- Add coconut oil
- Melt in microwave at 50% power in 30 second intervals. Remove bowl and stir after each 30 seconds. Repeat until chocolate is smooth after stirring (it should take about 1 – 1½ minutes to melt the chocolate). Heat the chocolate for as little time as possible. After the first minute, I usually keep stirring to see if I can get the chocolate to finish melting w/o additional time in the microwave.
- Dip the dehydrated orange slices in the melted chocolate, and place on a sheet of waxed paper to dry.
- Makes about 24 slices. Store covered at room temperature.
Notes
- If you slice the oranges thicker (1/4″ slices) , they may take closer to 6 hours to dehydrate.
