Orange Zest Brownie

Orange Zest Brownie is a decadent eggless brownie recipe which is perfectly dense and chocolatey. A great recipe for you brownie lovers. Served with a side of ice cream it is perfect for sweet cravings.

I haven’t made brownies for more than a year. Made Eggless Applesauce Brownies for the Photography contest in 2012. Whoa, more than a year!!!

It was no wonder, I was craving Brownies, since ages. Yeah but life gets in the way and before I could finally make them, we were celebrating Holi!

We make Coconut Filled Hand-made Sweet Pies (Ghujjia/ Karanji) for Holi but this time I let them go for brownies. It was a tough choice but I had to make one. :|

Another reason for making these Decadent Brownies was, I wanted to send the images for annual Photography Competition held at my husband’s office – CLICKS 2014. I am still awaiting the result. Last year my image of raw oranges was selected & exhibited. This year, I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Coming back to the Eggless Brownies, I converted them from Vegan version to simple Eggless and added orange zest, which I made for first time. The consistency is quite dough like and one needs to use hand to mix in the last step and place it in the baking dish.

But the result was really Ultimate and Decadence in each bite. It was dense and chocolatey, like any good brownie should be. And found out the real challenge lies in waiting for it to cool down before slicing it.

This time I waited overnight before cutting and the slices came out perfect. Also they stored very well. In this heat, at room temp for almost a week. I would like to tell, how long will they last but mine don’t last last that long and are eaten by Gobble Monster, V.

Print Recipe

Orange Zest Brownie

Decadent and Eggless Brwonies. It is dense, chocolatey and yum with each bite. It also has a great shelf life.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Baking, Snack

Cuisine: Vegetarian

Keyword: Bakery, chocolate, eggless

Servings: 9 people

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp flax meal Flax seed powder
• 1¾ cup all purpose flour
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• 7 tbsp cocoa powder unsweetened
• 100 g dark chocolate chopped
• 1 tsp instant espresso powder
• ¾ tsp salt
• ¼ cup boiling water
• 1¼ cup sugar granulated
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter 80g
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• zest of 1 orange
• ½ cup walnuts chopped

Instructions

• In a small bowl whisk together the water and flax meal. Let it sit for about 10 minutes till it becomes frothy.
• Preheat oven to 180 °C. Line & grease an 8X8 inch baking dish. Allow overhang on all sides for easy lifting of brownies after baking.
• Coat the chopped walnuts with little flour to avoid sinking to the bottom.
• In a medium bowl whisk together flour and baking soda. Keep aside.
• In another medium bowl add the cocoa powder, chocolate, coffee and salt. Add boiling water and mix in the ingredients into a paste using a spoon. Make sure that chocolate pieces are melted.
• Add sugar, butter, orange essence, flax meal egg and orange zest into the chocolate mixture until smooth.
• Stir in the walnuts if you're using them. Using a wooden spoon, mix in the flour until well combined. The mixture becomes extremely thick and you may need to use your hands to mix.
• Don't mix the dough with an electric mixer at this point. It will overwork the dough and gluten will form, in turn affecting the texture of the brownies.
• Transfer the batter to the baking dish, using your fingers to press the thick dough into place.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for an hour.
• Transfer the brownies to the wire rack by lifting the overhang. Allow them to cool completely before slicing into squares.