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 absolutely love Epicure, their dip mixes are fantastic! Thanks for this delish giveaway!
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It would be great to win this Epicure Baker Collection.
I don’t bake very often but i think your
Orange Brownies look delicious so i am going to make them.
Thanks for the recipe and having this giveaway.
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those brownies sound amazing. love new recipe options
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I haven’t had the chance to try Epicure just yet , but i have heard grew reviews about it my nephew loves the dips
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I have never tried Epicure products but would love to win and make this recipe, it looks and sounds amazing!
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love the recipe and apparently Epicure products are very good. Hope I win !!
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I would love to try the products in this giveaway; they look delicious and exotic.
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The Orange Brownie looks so good. I love Orange Chocolates so the brownies must taste amazing. Thanks for sharing the recipe, I will definitely try. 🙂
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Thanks! This sounds fantastic!
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I have tried Epicure products before. They are very good quality. I will be trying your brownie recipe. It sounds yummy and I always like to try new ways of baking old favourites.
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I love epicuria products! This looks awesome!
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I love the look of the brownies,will make soon.And I have tried some of the Epicure products.
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Wow, these look amazing
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these brownies look so moist and decadent – wow!!
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They look very yummy. Can’t wait to try out the recipe. Thank you for the inspiration
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Great prize and recipe looks yummy!
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I love epicure!! I have only used a few things like the fruit dip. this would be so much fun to win!
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Epicure products are wonderful, packaged in BC and not expensive to try.
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LOVE Epicure…just recently went to my first party and there are so many items in this prize pack I’m wanting to try 🙂
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My son will love these! 🙂 And what a great giveaway package. Thanks for the chance to win. 🙂
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They look like delicious recipes! ….in time for the holidays.
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Those brownies look and sound absolutely delicious!
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I love Epicure!! Oven Roast is the best 🙂
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Fantastic giveaway!
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I can’t wait to try this recipe.
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These look amazing. I love orange and chocolate together.
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The Orange Brownie recipe sounds festive and delicious!
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I have heard so many great things about Epicure but never tried them yet.
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Those brownies look divine! yum!
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I’ve tried a few of the Epicure grinder spices…those brownies look so good..they make my mouth water
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I love to bake so this would be amazing.
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Those orange brownies look so good! Thanks for the recipe!
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Happy Holidays! I love Epicure, this is a great giveaway!
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I love Epicure products
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I like the epicure dip mixes
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I have been using the chicken stock and its great and soy free
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These look delicious and what a fantastic give-away!
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What a fantastic giveaway. Thank you for the opportunity!
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Epicure makes some great products. Your orange brownies sound yummy.
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Epicure has so many interesting and wonderful food products to try.
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I had no idea Epicure had bakeware, let alone such pretty bakeware! And I’ve never heard of Orange Brownies either but I know I would LOVE them!
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Love Epicure dips and those orange brownies sound delicious thank you for the awesome giveaway
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Great recipe! I’ve know about epicure’s savory blends and I’m excited to try their sweet products!
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I’m a huge baker, especially around this time of year and I love Epicure. Thanks for the chance to win!
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My bestfriend gave me some Epicure products for Christmas last year! They make a great present!
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These sound delicious! I’ve never tried anything from Epicure so this would be a treat! Thanks
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Love Epicure products, thanks for the chance.
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oh,I`ve never tried any Epicure products before,but have heard good things about them!
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