Chocolate orange brownies
They're not Terry's, they're mine ;)
Terry’s chocolate oranges hold a special place in my heart. As kids, my sister and I would ‘buy’ my Dad, a chocolate orange for every Christmas, birthday, and Father’s Day. Because his name is Terry, we thought they were his favourite. It was only as adults, he confessed, he doesn’t like orange-flavoured chocolate very much at all, and being forced to gleefully crack and consume one on each special occasion made his distaste even greater. So, this recipe is dedicated to you, papa!
I saw someone share a Nigella recipe recently, it was for a chocolate orange cake or tart, I can’t remember which, because I was stuck on the orange part. She took two whole oranges and boiled them for a few hours, allowed them to cool, and then whizzed them up in a food processor to fold into her batter or filling, or whatever it was. Since I had two whole oranges and no Negroni drinking plans in the immediate future, I knew I needed to give this a go in my go-to brownie recipe. I’ve been wanting to share the very good ooey gooey brownie recipe for a while but am always distracted with publishing more OTT affairs. Thanks to Queen Nigella’s baked oranges, my basic brownies have morphed into something interesting enough to see the light of your inbox…
*Note! The baked oranges should ideally be done the day before you want to bake your brownies. Basically, they need to have completely cooled and gone soft, so you could probably get away with doing them in the morning and baking in the eve, but ideally, do it overnight.*
Cuts into 12 generous slices
You’ll need:
2 whole oranges + a little grating of the zest to sprinkle on your brownies
170g unsalted butter
150g dark chocolate, chopped
225g caster sugar
3 eggs
70g hot chocolate powder
1 tsp coffee granules
105g plain flour
To bake the oranges, bring a pan of water to a rolling boil and gently lower the oranges in. Turn the temperature down a smidge and cook for around 2 hours. You might need to turn the temp up or down or add more water to keep the oranges covered during this time, so don’t wander off! Remove the oranges once soft and set aside to cool completely. Once cool, cut in half, remove any large pips, and then cut into chunks and throw into a food processor or chop as small as possible.
Heat the oven to 180C and line a 20-25cm brownie tin with baking parchment.
Melt the butter and chocolate together. I like to do this over a bowl of simmering water, stirring the whole time but it’s easier/creates less washing up to pop both into a bowl and microwave in 30-second stints. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of stints for a glossy, smooth result. Stir the coffee granules into the warm chocolate until dissolved. Set aside and allow to fully cool
Next, whisk the sugar and eggs together. Always do this for longer than you think you should. We’re looking for a mixture that has doubled or tripled in volume and for drips from the whisk to sit on the surface before sinking.
Fold the cooled chocolate into the egg mixture along with the orange and stir to combine. Then sieve in the hot chocolate powder, flour and a generous pinch of salt. Give a really gentle stir and then pour into the prepared tin.
Bake for 20-25 minutes. The top should be hard, crackly and a little shiny and a slight wobble from underneath is a great sign.
Let the brownies cool completely in the tin and then slice and top with the grated orange peel if you kept some.