Orange Chocolate Brownies

Do you remember those dark or milk chocolate oranges from your childhood? They would come wrapped tightly in bright orange foil, and when you’d open one of them up you would see something like a dozen pieces of chocolate in the shape of orange wedges. Taking a bite, the taste of orange and chocolate would fill your mouth. I think I still see those around, but it’s been years since I’ve had one. Still, the combination of orange and chocolate flavors is a good one and enticing to try bringing into the kitchen.

Part of my bounty of oranges

I recently purchased a large box of oranges, and I am finding that I am the only person eating them. It’s hard for me to keep up, so I have been trying to think of ways to use the oranges other than eating them one by one. I have been craving brownies lately, so I decided to try making orange chocolate brownies. The recipe I based the brownies off of is a basic one, so I really was testing out the use of orange in it. The brownies turned out great, but I will say that they are not solid brownies – they fall apart easily – so this recipe is better used where the brownies are a topping to your vegan ice cream (a suggestion my husband had after trying one).

Orange Chocolate Brownies
This recipe is adapted from Best Brownies on AllRecipes.com

• 1/2 vegan butter
• 1 cup vegan white sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground flax
• 3 tablespoons hot water
• 3 tablespoons orange juice, or the juice from 1/2 of an orange
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and grease an 8-inch square pan. I usually just use Earth Balance.

Greasing the pan with Earth Balance

Mix your hot water and ground flax together with a fork. It will be very thick, because normally you would mix in an additional three tablespoons of hot water, but we’re going to substitute the orange juice in later.

This is what we're using to bind the brownies

Go ahead and grate your orange peel (if you’re using it). I love this Microplane grater/zester – it works really well.

Grating an orange

You can also go ahead and juice half of your orange if you are going to use fresh orange juice as opposed to store-bought.

Juicing an orange

In a large saucepan, melt your butter.

Melting the Earth Balance

When it has all melted, take it off the heat and then stir in the sugar, flax mixture, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla. You’ll want to try to mix it very well, because if you let the flax mixture sit for too long it may not incorporate very well. To be honest, I was very tempted to toss this into the food processor, but I decided not to. That definitely would have made this part of the batter smoother.

Mix well!

Add in the cocoa powder. As soon as I did this, it smelled like that chocolate orange candy to me!

Mixing in the cocoa powder

Mix in the remaining dry ingredients: flour, salt and baking powder.

Nearly done!

Pour it into your greased pan, then stick it in the oven for about 30 minutes. You may want to go an additional five minutes or so in case it is not done in the middle.

Pouring the brownie batter into the pan

When it’s done, allow the pan to cool for a few minutes, then you can serve warm. Again, because these are a little more delicate than other brownies, you may want to use this as a topping to vegan ice cream.

Orange chocolate brownie

This experiment turned out great! The orange flavor was definitely present, but it was not overwhelming, and the brownies tasted really quite decadent.

There are two things, though. These were very greasy – I might cut the amount of butter down by a few tablespoons next time, and to make them a little more solid I might increase the flour a little bit. The key is to not make them cake-like. The point of brownies is to have something that is a lot more moist and dense than cake, so perhaps my next experiment will be to try to find that happy balance.

Bringing back memories of those chocolate oranges from my childhood...

Do you like brownies? And have you ever experimented with making different flavors of brownies?

YUM.

It hasn’t been until the last few years that I have gotten into scones (I think that I used to confuse them with biscotti and assumed that they would be dry and hard), and even then I haven’t made them with much frequency. I was pleasantly surprised when I bit into my first scone – rich, moist and just a little bit sweet. Much like a sweet version of a savory biscuit. I decided it was high time to make scones again the other day, and I’m glad I did – although I wish I hadn’t eaten them all already. I could so go for another right now!

Orange Scones
This recipe makes approximately 8 large scones, and is based upon the cranberry orange scones recipe at epicurious.com.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 3/4 cup vegan butter, cut into chunks
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice (the juice of a medium sized orange is about 1/4 cup)
• 3/4 cup vegan milk

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Sift your flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda together in a large bowl.

Sifting the dry ingredients together

Grate your orange peel. I used a medium-sized orange and it yielded me approximately 1 tablespoon of orange zest. Also this grater is awesome.

Getting my grated orange peel

Mix the orange peel with your sifted ingredients.

Mixing orange zest with the sifted dry ingredients

Add your vegan butter and mix together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse meal. You can probably also use a pastry cutter if you do not want to mix with your hands.

Mixing the vegan butter with your dry ingredients

If you haven’t already, squeeze your fresh orange juice.

Fresh orange juice

Mix the orange juice and vegan milk together, then gradually pour it into your mixture, tossing with a fork until moist clumps form.

Mixing together the wet and dry ingredients

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead it briefly to mix the dough well (about four turns). Form the dough into a circle, about 1/2 inch thick.

Nearly there...

Take a knife and cut into 8 wedges. Alternatively, you can use a biscuit cutter to cut several round pieces. Place the scones about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet.

Cutting the orange scones

Bake in your preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until the tops of the scones are golden brown.

Vegan scones fresh out of the oven

After taking the scones out of the oven, let them sit on their baking sheet for about 10 minutes. You can then serve them warm or at room temperature. I recommend using vegan clotted cream as a topping or they are delicious on their own.

Also, while I am not a huge fan of cranberries, I do think that these would taste really nice with some cranberries and/or some slivered almonds mixed in. Or instead of orange zest and juice, consider lemon zest and juice. Be creative – you’re sure to come up with some really fantastic variations.

Vegan orange scones

Do you ever make scones? What is your favorite kind?

La Conda Extra Virgin Blood Orange Olive Oil

Last month, Matt and I went to California and Oregon to visit family and friends for a much needed two-week vacation. We often wait months and months, me saving up vacation days at work, before going away for an extended amount of time. By the time our vacation has arrived we’re both about to go insane with the necessity of an honest and true break. Yes, it was much needed and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

As part of our vacation we did a road trip up to Oregon, and on the way there we saw a billboard advertising The Olive Hut. We all love olives and olive oil, so we figured it was a good detour and the perfect opportunity to stretch our legs. When we went into the store, we found we were the only customers (helps to have it be the middle of the day and the middle of the week), so it was easy for us to browse and linger over their copious amounts of locally grown and produced olives. As we walked through, we saw a sampling table where we could try various stuffed olives and a variety of olive oils. To the right of the table was a glass enclosed room where a couple of women quickly pressed garlic cloves into olives.

After a while I decided that I needed a culinary souvenir, so I finally settled on a small bottle of blood orange olive oil because of its unique flavor. I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d use it for, but I knew it had vast potential in my kitchen. I used it for the first time with these homegrown collard greens and spinach, but if you don’t have orange flavored olive oil you can get a similar citrus flavor if you use a couple of tablespoons of fresh squeezed orange or lemon juice.

Collard Greens and Spinach

• 1 large bunch of fresh collard greens  (de-stemmed and cut into smaller pieces, if desired)
• 1 or two large handfuls of fresh spinach
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 – 3 cups water
• 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil (or orange-flavored olive oil)
• 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed orange or lemon juice (omit if you do have a citrus-flavored olive oil)
• Other seasonings as desired (dill, black pepper, garlic, onion, etc.)

Boil water and salt in a medium sized saucepan. Once the water is boiling add the collard greens. Let the collard greens cook for three to five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Collard Greens

Add in the spinach at the end and let cook for 15 to 30 seconds, then turn off the stove and take the pan off the heat.

Fresh Spinach

Drain the greens and place them in a serving bowl. Drizzle on the olive oil, citrus juice and other seasonings and quickly mix. This can be served either warm or cold.

Collard greens and spinach with blood orange olive oil and spices

I absolutely love both collard greens and spinach, so this wound up being a lovely pairing and the orange olive oil gave it such an interesting flavor. If you don’t have or like either of these greens you could try this with other greens like kale, swiss chard, or arugula. You could also do broccoli (boiled or steamed), asparagus or carrots. It’s such a basic recipe, but the addition of citrus and olive oil give it an exotic and unexpected twist.

Do you have any ideas on how to use an olive oil like this that is infused with a unique flavor?

Delicious collard greens and spinach