Homemade Dried Fruit Christmas Tree Decoration

I usually celebrate Christmas in my home country – the Czech Republic…However for the first time ever I am staying in England this year which means I got the chance to buy and decorate my own Christmas tree for the first time !!!

I wanted to use decoration mainly made out of natural materials so I decided to make my own decorations by using DRIED FRUIT !!! This way the decoration does not only look pretty but smells gorgeous as well …!!!

I am sure you will find many other instructions on the internet of  ‘HOW TO MAKE DRIED FRUIT CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATION’ but this is the way I made mine.

THINGS YOU WILL NEED:

• 2-3 Oranges (or Lime)
  
• 2-3 Apples
• Natural Sting (or Rafia)
• Whole Cloves
• Cinnamon Sticks
• Oven
• Knife
  

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to about 150 degrees.
2. Slice the fruit to about 2mm thin slices.
3. Place the slices of fruit on the kitchen paper towel to dry the excess juice.
4. Place the slices of fruit on the cooling rack of the oven.
5. ‘Bake’ the fruit for about 3 hours (turn the pieces in the middle of the process to allow to dry evenly on both sides.
6. After the fruit is taken out of the oven and cooled down you can start putting the pieces together with natural sting or rafia.
7. And finally add the final touches by adding Cinnamon Sticks and Whole Cloves.

 **** MERRY CHRISTMAS ****