Chocolate Orange or Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies

 

Here’s another simple recipe for you all to try…chocolate orange or chocolate hazelnut brownies. Just in time for the bank holiday! This would be a good one to try with the little ones as they can help with weighing out the ingredients, sifting the flour or with the stirring. It might get a bit messy but they will love it – especially if they get to lick the spoon at the end. These are  gooey brownies, which is how I like them, but if you prefer more of a cake consistency then just add a few extra minutes onto the baking time!

I have added two different flavour combinations here. Chocolate Orange or Chocolate Hazelnut. Both are delicious, it just depends which you would prefer. Or maybe make both and then decide!

 

Ingredients:

120g unsalted butter

150g dark chocolate

4 eggs

250g caster sugar

100g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

40g cocoa

Flavour combination 1:

1 large orange – zest

Juice of half of the orange

Flavour combination 2:

85g hazelnuts, I then used some whole and some I crushed to have a mix.

 

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C Fan.
• Grease and line a brownie tin. If you have seen my recipe for Chocolate and Coconut No Bake Bars! then you will have already seen how I line my tins. But if not, see below. I find this really easy to then lift the bake out of the tin once cooled. This tin is 9×9 inch square tin.

• Melt the butter and chocolate. I like to use the fairtrade chocolate in Lidl – see below.

 

• You can melt the chocolate and butter either by placing the butter and chocolate into a microwavable bowl and microwave in 30second bursts until melted, continually stirring at each 30 second break. Or you can put the butter and chocolate into a glass bowl, sitting above a pan of simmering water. I tend to use the microwave as it is slightly quicker and less washing up!
• Cool the chocolate and butter mix.
• Whisk the eggs and caster sugar together until light and fluffy and almost doubled in volume. This does tend to take quite a while so I will potter around doing other things whilst I’m waiting – such as get the dry ingredients all weighed out and sifted ready in another bowl, zest the orange, or… just enjoy that cup of tea or coffee! I use my electric mixer for this stage as it does speed up the process.
• Fold the chocolate butter mixture into the egg mix, slowly! So as not to lose all the air that you have just spent so long incorporating. I use a large metal spoon here.
• Sift in the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder and cocoa. Again fold this in slowly.
• Stir through the orange zest and juice. Or if you are going for flavour combination 2 – the hazelnuts.
• Pour into the tin. Try to put the bowl as low down and close to the tin at this stage again not to lose air when pouring out into the tin.
• Bake for 25minutes if you like a gooey brownie. If you prefer a cake texture then add a few minutes onto this baking time.

• The top should be slightly cracking but if you wobble the tin the centre slightly moves still. The sides might just be starting to come away from the tin also.
• Cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Then I transfer the brownies to a wire rack to completely cool.

Enjoy!

 

 

Let me know how you find the recipe, and tag me on Instagram with #blearyeyedbaker so I can see your bakes.

Hope you enjoy. And a have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend.

Carly x