As I mentioned in a previous post, some time ago I winnowed out the hundreds of scribbled down or clipped out recipes I had stashed here and there in my kitchen and cookbooks. I found places to file them, sorted some to sell on Etsy, and ended up with a large envelope of them that I didn't quite know what to do with. I couldn't seem to make up my mind whether to keep them or throw them away.
While planning for Christmas in July, I decided to pull out a recipe from this envelope -- I would pick the first one I came to that sounded the least bit Christmasy! Living dangerously. That worked out so well I decided to try it a second time. And up came this newspaper clipping for Orange Creme Brownies.
Regular readers know I'm pretty partial to the festive flavor combination of orange and chocolate.
So it seems as if these brownies would make a wonderful addition to Christmas cookie trays or as a kitchen gift on their own. And hey, wouldn't a selection of orange/chocolate goodies be fun -- the chocolate dipped orange slices, some chocolate orange cookies, some chocolate orange muffins and these brownies -- or any combination thereof? You can find all of the recipes here: Christmas recipes featuring oranges.
The clipping is hard to read, I know, so I'll type out the recipe. I have no idea who to credit for this, but I've had the clipping for a very long time.
ORANGE CREME BROWNIES
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut in small pieces
1/3 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 325º. Line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square pan with foil, allowing it to overhang the edge of the pan slightly. Butter the foil and set the pan aside.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt onto a square of waxed paper.
In a small saucepan, combine chocolate morsels, butter, sugar, and orange juice; cook and stir over very low heat until chocolate and butter are melted; remove from heat. Stir in orange peel and vanilla. Let cool 10 minutes. Using a wire whisk, beat in eggs one at a time. Add reserved flour mixture, beating until smooth; stir in nuts.
Spread in prepared pan. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.
When cool, spread with Orange Creme (recipe follows) and refrigerate until firm -- about 15 minutes in the fridge or 5 minutes in the freezer. Spread warm Chocolate Icing over the Orange Creme.
Using a knife, mark chocolate layer in about 36 squares (1 1/2 inches square). Refrigerate until chocolate icing layer is firm, about 25 minutes, or place in the freezer for a shorter time. Lift the foil edges to remove the brownies to a cutting board; cut in squares along marked lines. Makes 36 brownies. Refrigerate up to 4 days, or freeze up to 1 month.
ORANGE CREME
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
In the small bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy. Beat in orange peel, milk, and vanilla.
CHOCOLATE ICING
1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon vegetable shortening
In small saucepan, combine chocolate morsels, butter and vegetable shortening. Stir over very low heat until melted.
These sound delicious! They do sound like quite a bit of work, as well. I would most likely double the recipe to make it worth my while.
I'll definitely be trying these with an eye to Christmas gifting. How about you?
Yummy!
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