Homemade Holiday Gift Ideas: Candied Orange Peel 2 Ways

Good morning from Spain! I arrived yesterday afternoon, safe and sound, after an 18 hour trip. 2, 4-hour layovers and almost 10 hours of flying wore.me.out but the boyfriend somehow found a way to keep me awake (i.e. Christmas shopping) until a normal bedtime hour last night so I’d have minimal jet lag when I woke up today. I passed out around 9:15 last night and slept until 11:45 today – which makes for a glorious 14 1/2 hours of sleep.

How are those candied orange peels coming along? If you haven’t started, you’ll want to after I show you the 2 things I made with mine! Both of these make super simple but delicious homemade holiday gifts. It’s perfectly ok to make these for yourself though, too.

Gift #1: Dip those candied orange peels in melted, dark chocolate.

Once the peels have been candied and dried, it takes about 10 minutes. No double-boiler needed. I just melted a bar of fine, dark chocolate in a bowl in the microwave. Just dip,

and let dry.

Tip: they “peel” right off of wax paper. (Amazing pun, I know.)

Don’t they look gorgeous? So fancy but so simple. They’d look great standing up in a small jar adorned with lots of orange, green and red ribbon.

The other holiday gift idea I had was to make homemade Candied Orange Granola.

Just chop up those candied orange peels,

bake a little granola and oila!

I bought some of these inexpensive glass jars from World Market last year and gifted some of my homemade Cranberry Granola to friends and family. It was a huge hit! Tie some ribbon around the top of the jar and attach a recipe card for a thoughtful and delicious, homemade gift.

Here’s my recipe for the granola. I’ll also link to it on my Recipes page if you want it in the future!

Candied Orange Granola

Print recipe

Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	30 minutes
Total time	50 minutes
Allergy	Tree Nuts
Dietary	vegan, vegetarian
Meal type	breakfast

Candied orange peels add a sweet burst of citrus flavor to this simple granola recipe.

Ingredients

3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup candied orange peel, chopped (The Food Network has a great recipe)
1/2 cup coconut flakes, sweetened
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons 100% pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Step 1
Preheat oven to 300F.
Step 2
Combine honey, maple syrup and canola oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and warm until smooth and well blended.
Step 3
In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients except for the fruit.
Step 4
Pour warm honey mixture over dry ingredients and mix well until oats are coated and lightly moistened.
Step 5
Spread mixture evenly onto rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown, mixing every 10 minutes or so to ensure even cooking.
Step 6
Cool and add candied orange peel. Store in an airtight container to retain freshness.

Well friends, it’s time to get the show on the road. The boyfriend is working today and has asked me to pick up some groceries and some holiday decorations for his apartment. That may have been a mistake on his part – I think he forgot that I go a little overboard decorating for Christmas!

Have a wonderful day!