Till I was in my late teens, chocolate meant just chocolate. No added flavour (except mint thanks to major love for After Eight). I was ok with textures in chocolate, like nuts, raisins, rice puffs (Crackle being my favourite!), but not with flavours.
As I grew older I started trying more dark chocolate and then through some bars of fancy Lindt, also experimented with flavoured chocolate. While some combos are not my scene, I definitely love chocolate and orange as a pair. I’m not a fan of sweet orange filling in chocolate, but I love a zesty orange background flavour mixed in to the chocolate. The darker the chocolate the better, in this case. These brownies are inspired by this decadent flavour combo and are downright irresistible!
The recipe is super easy and makes tall, thick, dense, fudgy brownies with a crackly top and a gorgeous hum of orange throughout ❤️
There is a lot of chocolate in these brownies. Three types to be precise! Melted chocolate, cocoa powder and chocolate chips. I don’t think it gets better than this!!
The butter and chocolate, when melted, add body and fudginess to the brownies. The cocoa powder adds a deep chocolate flavour and a level of darkness to cut the sweetness. The chocolate chips get all melty and make these pools of deliciousness in the midst of all that fudgy goodness! I am drooling as I write this. I kid you not.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
The orange makes its way into the batter through both zest and fresh juice and adds a lovely complexity to the taste and also balances out the richness and sweetness of the brownie.
Once baked and cooled, slice the brownies and sprinkle a little zest on top for added oomph. Easy peasy!
I tried my hardest to have just one piece, but to no avail. I wolfed down 3 pieces in one go *runs and hides*
The brownies are decadent to say the least. But they aren’t very sweet. They are gloriously chocolatey but also very boldly orange-y. Major happiness inducing 😍
You absolutely have to try these! They are going to be your new go-to way of baking brownies! Trust me.
Chocolate & Orange Brownies
Ingredients
100g butter
225 dark chocolate – chopped
3/4 cup (90g) brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Zest of 1 large orange + extra for sprinkling on top
2 tbsp fresh orange juice
1/4 cup (30g) all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Directions
- Pre heat the oven to 175C. Grease and line an aluminum 8*8 baking tin
- Melt the butter and chocolate until smooth and well combined. Let the mixture cool to close to room temperature
- In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together for around 2-3 minutes. The mixture will become lighter in colour and will add to the crackly top
- Pour in the melted butter+chocolate mixture and mix well. Add the vanilla extract, orange zest and orange juice and mix
- Sift together the flour, cocoa and salt. Mix into the wet batter till just combined
- Fold in the chocolate chips and mix gently
- Transfer to the baking tray and smoothen the top. Bake at 175C for 35-40 mins till just done
- Let it cool to room temperature, remove from pan and slice!
My Tuck Box 
The orange zest is a nice touch! 💕
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[…] used in sauces, with protein, in dessert, in salads – you name it. I’ve used them in brownies before and that chocolate and orange combination was […]
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[…] love baking brownies and have a few variations of the classic one on the blog. An easy way to amp up the brownie is definitely by adding some good […]
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This was so delish! I’ve always loved the chocolate orange combo. Thanks for sharing this great recipe! Just a note that in step 5 there’s a typo that should state to add salt with the flour and cocoa powder and not baking powder.
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Thanks for pointing that out! Has been corrected 🙂 hope you bake these soon! Let me know how they turn out 🙂
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