Homemade Chocolate Oranges

I love Terry's Chocolate Oranges! 

Unfortunately, for some frustrating reason, they always seem to sell out within the first week of December, and I am always left with the dark chocolate leftovers. Last week, to my delight, I found this recipe for homemade chocolate oranges on Pinterest and was so excited to try it! You can find the original over at Lilyshop, along with much better pictures than mine! 

Homemade Chocolate Oranges

What you'll need:

2 decent sized chocolate oranges (vague enough, right)

1 11.5 oz bag of milk chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli because that's what Walmart had)

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 tsp. orange extract

Prep time: about 20 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

First, slice your oranges in half.

Then, use a spoon and a small paring knife to gut your oranges. I sliced between the peel and the fruit in a circle, and then used the spoon to pull out the middle.  

*Warning: if you pick juicy oranges, they might squirt juice in your eyes if you're not careful!

Be super careful when cleaning out the oranges or you'll have to finish this project with a sliced pinky, like me! I pushed the knife in too deep and cut my finger through the other side of the orange, so make sure you don't push your knife in too far.

Special thanks to my Disney Princess BandAids for patching up my finger!

Next, scrape out the leftover fruit and stringy skin until the inside of your peel is nice and smooth.

The insides of your oranges should be smooth and generally leveled, like the insides of a pumpkin after you've scraped all the guts out. 

Next, pour chocolate chips into a medium sized glass bowl and set aside.

Go ahead... eat a few right now!

Pour 1/2 cup of cream into a small glass bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Then pour the hot cream on top of your chocolate chips and stir until melted. I had to microwave my chocolate mixture in two more 15-second increments in order for the chips to melt completely. 

 Once the chocolate chips are smooth and melted, stir in 1/4 tsp. orange extract and stir.

Now it's time for the fun part! 

Place your orange bowls in a muffin tin so they stay facing up. Pour the chocolate orange mixture into the bowl until completely filled. My mixture was thick enough that some of my orange bowls were overflowing but did not spill over.

 Place the tin in the fridge for at least one hour. 

Confession: the chocolate didn't pour into the bowls perfectly. I had to use my finger to clean up the drips! 

While you patiently wait for your chocolate oranges to finish setting up, I strongly recommend that you eat the leftover chocolate in your glass bowl. 

Nom nom nom!

The recipe I followed suggested 1 hour setting time, but my chocolate was not sold yet. 

I ended up leaving them in the fridge for about three hours until I was satisfied with the texture. 

My chocolate oranges did not completely solidify; they turned out to be the consistency of fudge, which was completely satisfying and delicious!

Slice your orange into individual pieces and enjoy!

This blurry picture is of my husband chopping up one of my homemade chocolate oranges.

 He couldn't get enough of them!

The end result!

I dare you to give this recipe a try! It ended up being a lot easier than I was expecting.

I wonder what these would taste like with raspberry extract? Hmmm... Another project for next time!