If you follow Baking with Basil on Facebook, you may have noticed there was a chocolate frenzy going on in my kitchen Saturday morning. Well……I thought there was going to be. I attempted to create some chocolate cookies with caramel and sea salt, instead I ended up with chocolate cookie scraps and caramel that stuck to my cooling rack. After many attempts on trying to fix this process, I ended up with 5 chocolate cookies with butterscotch and chocolate chips. A slight fail, but luckily these brownies saved the morning.
As most of you know, frosting is my kryptonite. So when I saw this recipe on My Baking Addiction, between the pretty picture, the bright orange frosting, and the fun sprinkles I started to drool. The brownies turned out wonderful. They were dense and almost fudge like. I wasn’t as big of a fan of the orange cream cheese frosting. It was good but it wouldn’t be my first choice for a frosting. If you are a chocolate and orange lover though, these are perfect for you. The brownie recipe is definitely a keeper!!
Thanks for stopping by!
Dark Chocolate Brownies
Brownie Ingredients
- 12 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup dark cocoa powder
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks or chips
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8×8 inch baking pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Set a medium sized saucepan over medium heat and warm the butter until melted; add the sugar and stir well. Remove pan from heat and whisk in cocoa powder.
3. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs and vanilla; slowly pour the chocolate mixture into the bowl and whisk in with the eggs until well combined. Gently stir in the flour and salt; do not beat or over mix. Fold in chocolate chunks.
4. Pour batter into prepared baking pan and smooth top with an offset spatula.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Be careful not to overbake. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Zest of one orange
- 2 tbsp orange juice
- 2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1. Combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla, orange zest, and orange juice with an electric mixer until well combined, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Gradually add the confectioners sugar and continue mixing until the frosting is smooth and reaches the desired consistency.
Love the idea of an Orange Cream Cheese Frosting on a dark chocolate brownie. Very pretty!