Can you believe that it’s going to be Christmas soon? It always surprises me how fast it sneaks up on me. I’ve been thinking about what to bake this holiday season, but it’s so hard to decide! There are family favourites, like sugar cookies decorated with icing or painted with egg yolks, Rolo cookies, Cookie Dough Truffles, and shortbread dipped in chocolate. I also loved the Epicure Eggnog Oreo Cheesecake Bites we made last year. The Epicure Perfect Petites mold is great for baking treats because the portion sizes are small so you won’t overindulge. And because they’re small, they also bake a lot faster so you won’t have to wait so long to sample your baking.
I used the Perfect Petites mold this time to make orange brownies. There’s something about chocolate and orange together that thrills me. Epicure gave me Orange Chocolate Sugar to try out, and I immediately thought it would be delicious on brownies. Then I thought, why not add even more orange flavour right into the brownies? I remembered a muffin recipe I tried years ago — Whole Orange Muffins — which uses a blended-up orange with the peel and all. Those muffins were so good! I wanted to try the same concept with brownies.
It may seem a little odd to blend up a whole orange, but don’t worry, it doesn’t taste bitter or overpowering at all. It adds a nice punch of fresh, vibrant citrus flavour to the rich cocoa in the brownies. The oranges also make the brownies more moist, so you use less butter. I added a bit of apple sauce as well to help reduce the need for much butter. That means you can have more brownies without too many extra calories, especially since they’re petite.
The soft dusting of orange sugar on top are a lovely festive touch to these brownies. It reminds me of a light snowfall, except snow doesn’t taste this delicious!
My family likes brownies, so these did not last long in our home. I think Cole liked them the most. He was very intrigued by the flavour and kept asking me what was in them. I told him there were oranges, but he wanted to know what else. There’s really nothing else odd in these, except maybe applesauce. I think the orange flavour might have been hard for him to recognize when it was combined with chocolate, but in any case, he was utterly enthralled with these brownies. He couldn’t stop eating them!
Orange Brownies
Ingredients
- Approx. 2 (or 4 mini) Mandarin oranges
- 1/3 cup apple sauce
- ½ cup butter, melted
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ tsp baking powder
- Epicure Chocolate Orange Sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Place oranges (peel and all) in a blender, and blend until smooth. You will need 2/3 cup of pureed orange for this recipe.
- In a medium bowl, stir together orange puree, apple sauce, butter, vanilla, and egg.
- In another bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar and baking powder.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, and stir just until combined.
- Scoop batter evenly into lightly greased Perfect Petites.
- Place Petites mold on a baking sheet, and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick in the centre comes out clean.
- Once the brownies are cool to the touch, pop them out of the mold and continue to cool on a rack.
- Sprinkle with Chocolate Orange sugar, if desired.
Notes
If you don’t have Perfect Petites, you can bake these brownies in an 8” square baking pan for about 25 minutes.
Now that I’ve got you in the baking mood, how about entering to win a Baker’s Collection from Epicure? This is a gorgeous prize pack that’s just perfect for holiday baking.
This contest is open to Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) and will close on Dec 10 2015. Enter to win by using the form below. Good Luck!
Epicure Holiday Giveaway
https://js.gleam.io/e.js Disclosure: I received complimentary products from Epicure for writing this post. All opinions in this post are my own.https://js.gleam.io/e.js
Food and Whine 
i have heard a lot about Epicure products, but i have never tried any of them
LikeLike
I hope you get to try them, they have so many great products!
LikeLike
Very nice prize package, definitely something I would love! Thanks for the giveaway, your brownie recipe sounds yummy!
LikeLike
Thanks Judy!
LikeLike
I love Epicure products and I will definitely be trying your recipe! It sounds delicious!
LikeLike
That’s fantastic, thanks Stephanie!
LikeLike
I love Epicure products and I will definitely be trying your recipe. It sounds delicious!!
LikeLike
Ack. Sorry for the double post! My phone is acting up!
LikeLike
Yum! I’ve been in a chocolate mood lately and these sound great!
LikeLike
I love the idea of blending up a whole orange to use in a recipe! And my husband is a total chocolate-orange fan, he would love these 🙂 Great recipe and fun giveaway!
LikeLike
yummy 🙂
LikeLike
I LOVE Epicure! I will definitely have to try this recipe! My husband is a huge fan of chocolate orange flavours so this will be a perfect addition to my Christmas baking!
LikeLike
I have had mostly savory products from epicure (dip mix, spice mixes etc). I am not even sure if I knew they had a sweet side!
LikeLike
I love Epicure products!!! They are so good! Thanks!
LikeLike
I love this prize pack. thank you so much for the chance
LikeLike
Epicure has amazing products, would love to win this
LikeLike
I have heard so many great things about Epicure and their products, however, I have yet to have the opportunity to try any.
LikeLike
omg i totally want to win this for my mom !! all she uses is Epicure and she has also got me hooked 🙂
LikeLike
Awesome giveaway! I love Epicure products but only treat myself to them very occasionally. I’d LOVE to win this pack.
LikeLike
Very nice giveaway
LikeLike
I have tried Epicure products in the past. Great products and Great taste.
LikeLike
I haven’t tried Epicure products – they look really good
LikeLike
I love epicure, their Pumpkin Cheesecake is a staple in our house. The eggnog cheesecake mix sounds amazing!
LikeLike
Such an inspiring recipe–thank you for the opportunity to win Epicure products!
LikeLike
great recipe..oranges date back to so many years ago as a special treat connected to christmas because it was a huge deal to obtain an orange
LikeLike
My mom told me when she was a girl growing up in Newfoundland she would get an orange in the toe of her stocking at Christmas. It was always special because oranges were so hard to find the rest of the year.
LikeLike
Yet to try any of their products but they look colourful
LikeLike
Thanks for the contest – who doesnt love baking! 🙂
LikeLike
Always happy to find new recipes. Thank you.
LikeLike
have tried a few Epicure spices and are great. Love your recipe..thanks for sharing. Can’t wait to try it!
LikeLike
Oh my, these brownies look super. I’ve used some Epicure in the past. I ordered some smokes salt for Christmas.
LikeLike
Love Epicure products; they are such amazing quality! Plus, those brownies look delicious! They would be an amazing festive treat for the holidays.
LikeLike
Oh how I love Epicure! I don’t have any Epicure bakeware though. I use epicure spices almost daily!
LikeLike
I’m a huge epicure fan. Have you tried their guacamole seasoning mix? It’s fantastic!
LikeLike
I haven’t yet! I use their pico salsa mix in guacamole though and it’s delicious!
LikeLike
Haven’t tried Epicure products but am certainly willing to. The cakes for one dishes look interesting!
LikeLike
Epicure products are new to me but L’d like to try them.
LikeLike
a lovely prize
LikeLike
OMGosh this would be so perfect! Thank you for the chance.
LikeLike
I like Epicure products and I will be trying your recipe
LikeLike
I love Epicure and this prize looks fantastic!
LikeLike
I have heard of Epicure products but have never had any of them. That brownie recipe sounds divine.
LikeLike
I haven’t tried Epicure products before. This would be an amazing prize to win. Thanks for the delicious chance!
LikeLike
Thanks for the chance, I have not tried Epicure products before.
LikeLike
I like Epicure products Thanks
LikeLike
This looks like an amazing prize. I have not tried the products and would love to.
LikeLike
Your brownies look and sound so yummy! My sister loves epicure and i think that’s what i’m going to gift her this year. The hardest part will be deciding what to give her!
LikeLike
I haven’t had the chance to try Epicure products yet. I’d love to give them a try.
LikeLike
Looks like a nice selection of products! This would be perfect for holiday baking.
LikeLike
This would be so lovely to win and so much fun to make!
LikeLike
Such an awesome prize! i love epicure products
LikeLike
Great prize! I love Epicure’s silicon products, and their spice blends are fab too.
LikeLike
Thanks for the contest
LikeLike
What an amazing prize pack from Epicure. I haven’t tried their baking product but we really love making dips with there products.
LikeLike
I love the combination of orange and chocolate!
LikeLike
Awesome prize pack! I would love to try Epicure 🙂
LikeLike