Orange Pecan Brownies

Some nights I come home and all I want to do is bake. This usually follows a particularly slow day at work, when I need to get the creative juices unstoppered and just get it out there. Last night was just such a night, and despite the fact that my parents are hosting some fancy dinner party today (and I got volunteered into preparing the pudding), what I really wanted to bake was brownies. Simple, comforting, delicious brownies. 

A colleague of mine referred me to Jamie Oliver's brownies recipe when she brought a batch in recently. They were the most luscious brownies I have EVER had, and I think I scarfed down 4 squares that day. Not  my highest point, I assure you... but I've been practicing more restraint since then. 

I made some accidental tweaks to the recipe as I read it wrong last night, but they turned out well regardless, so I'm going to keep making them that way, and I'll share the recipe with you as I made it. Here is the link to the original recipe, in case you want to do a comparison. 

Orange Pecan Brownies
Adapted from Jamie Oliver's Bloomin Brilliant Brownies

• 250g unsalted butter
• 200g dark chocolate, broken up
• 2 tsp instant coffee
• 50g chopped pecans (optional)
• 80g dark cocoa powder
• 65g all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 250g brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• zest of 1 orange (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking tin with butter and parchment paper
2. Melt the butter and chocolate over a bain-marie, and stir in the instant coffee granules
3. Combine the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and sugar in a bowl 
4. Once the butter and chocolate have melted evenly through, pour the mix into the flour mixture, add the chopped pecans and stir to combine
5. Beat the eggs in one at a time, then stir in the orange zest
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes then remove and cool completely (or just dive right into it, cos really... what's better than fresh, hot brownies?) 

If you're familiar with this blog, you would know that I adore the chocolate and orange combo. Throw in pecans, and coffee and you have a good handful of my favourite things. I dropped these off at the office today, and handed another batch out to my clients, literally sweetening everyone up for the rest of the week. But now I want to bake another batch for home! Do you think brownies are an acceptable dessert for what is apparently a gourmet dinner party? 

Maybe if I swirl in some mascarpone...

Happy Wednesday friends

x Nabs