Orange Essence Brownies

[hippywife]

These are so fudgy and delicious!

Basically, I took the recipe from Nestle cocoa:

http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=29519

And made the following changes:

-used butter instead of margarine and upped the amount to a full cup.
-added 2 oz of dark chocolate and the zest and most of the juice of a large orange to the butter when I melted it.
-used three eggs instead of two.
-added just a little extra flour, not sure of how much, maybe another 1/6 of a cup.

[htuttle]

1. I wouldn't be able to resist adding about 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper to that recipe

Something about chocolate, orange and a bit of vanilla cries out to me for some cayenne.... :)

[hippywife]

2. I will warn you that these are not

thick brownies. They aren't thin, either. But they are very fudgy.

With all the buzz about hot chili peppers and chocolate these days, we finally tried a Lindt Dark Chocolate Bar with chili. We were in Target this weekend and saw it and said, "What the hey, let's try it!" Neither of us noticed any discernible compliment to the taste of the chocolate, just the spicy tingle on the tongue as an afterthought. DH thought it was kind of palette cleansing, I didn't have any strong feelings about it one way or the other. So the jury is still out around here on that combo.

:hi:

[htuttle]

3. The chili hits you last

I made a bunch of bon bons last Christmas, and one of the flavors was dark chocolate/cayenne/orange/vanilla. The orange hit the tongue first, the vanilla mellowed it all and the pepper taste hit last.

It's the original way to eat chocolate, ya know...it's how them ancient Aztecs took their hot chocolate!

:hi:

[hatrack]

4. Or perhaps in addition to the zest, a bit of Grand Marnier . . .

Just a suggestion! :hi:

[hippywife]

5. We don't buy alcohol

but I'm sure that would work, even tho it's costlier than the lowly orange.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Your recipe put me in mind of this liqueur from Israel .... Sabra

It is very thick and very 'fudgy' but with that orange flavor to cut the sweetness a little.

Very nice stuff.