These orange brownies are an incredibly easy recipe – glazed, moist, chewy, fudgy brownies! All of the brownie texture we love to sink our teeth into with yummy orange flavor taking the place of traditional chocolate!
Follow me on Pinterest and find me on Instagram and my Facebook page!
Ok, before we get started on all of the orange brownie goodness….can I please share with you all that my son is turning TEN this weekend? My baby, my little guy, is going to be in double digits. How is this happening? Where did the time go? Why is he all tall and handsome now? Why are orange brownies so delicious? So many questions here.
I’ve spent most of the last week getting teary eyed and channeling my inner Cher like “If I could turn back time….”
Anyway, my little (not so little) guy declared that he wanted some kind of orange treats for his big day. He didn’t care what as long as it was orange. He is obsessed with all things orange if you didn’t already know these orange donuts are on behalf of him also!
Cake is obviously an easy go-to for birthday’s but I needed something portable that he can pass out to all his friends at school and that wouldn’t give his awesome teacher a giant headache by having to cut cake and pass out forks and all of that jazz.
So, here I am with this crazy idea that I can make brownies that are fruit flavored instead of chocolate…..and I did, you guys, I did.
Ok, enough about Cher and tears and birthday’s. These are easy easy easy. The hardest part of them is the time that you spend agonizing about eating one while they are in the oven.
They have that dense, fudgy, chewy texture of a brownie….but they’re orange! I’m probably the only one that is completely amazed by this. Thank you for sharing in my excitiment!
One little tidbit about these is really not to overwork your batter. When I said easy, I meant it. Don’t spend a bunch of time mixing, because you don’t need or want to here.
Use fresh orange juice for the brownies and glaze if you can, it tastes best and doesn’t have all of the extra sugar of the bottled juice.
I was able to get all of the juice for this recipe from 5 oranges.
Don’t skimp on the zest! It makes a huge difference in having an actual burst of orange flavor or just a mellow orange flavor.
*Happy Birthday to my orange loving little buddy*
Enjoy! Follow me on PINTEREST and INSTAGRAM for more!
Printable recipe for you below.
Orange Brownies
Ingredients
- 2 Cups all purpose flour
- 2 Cups granulated sugar
- 1 Tsp salt
- 2 1/2 Sticks salted butter softened
- 4 Large eggs room temperature
- 1/2 Tsp vanilla
- 1/2 Cup orange juice
- Zest of 3 oranges
- Orange food coloring as desired
- GLAZE:
- 2 Cups and 1/2 confectioners sugar
- 1/3 Cup orange juice
- 1 Tbsp orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare a 9x13 inch pan with non stick spray, or use aluminum foil or parchment paper leaving a slight overhang over the edges
- of the pan for easy removal.
- In bowl of stand mixer (or large bowl if you will use a hand mixer) whisk together the flour, sugar and salt until well combined.
- Add the butter and mix on LOW speed just until combined.
- In a separate small bowl whisk together the eggs, vanilla, orange juice, and orange zest.
- Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix gently on low with stand or hand mixer (Do not beat).
- Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth down the top.
- Bake in preheated oven 40-45 minutes just until barely golden brown around the edges and firm to the touch in the center.
- Cool the brownies in the pan for at least 45 minutes to 1 hour before removing from pan.
- Cool completely before adding glaze.
- GLAZE:
- In a medium bowl with hand mixer or whisk, mix together the confectioners sugar, juice, and zest until well combined.
- Spread over cooled brownies as desired.
There is no leavening agent?
I loved this recipe and chose to make my own glaze by reducing 2 cups OJ to 1/2 cup (about 40 mins at a low boil- and I recommend you do this for the juice in cake batter, too). Added 2 TBS butter + 2 TBS honey & simmered 3-4 minutes. It thickens as it cools.
I live in Florida and expect to (re)make this recipe every time someone gives me oranges. Esp good with blood oranges!
I want to make this for Thanksgiving. I am confused about instruction 7. It says to use a hand mixer on low but not to beat. I am only learning how to bake so at the risk of sounding like a clueless noob, I thought hand mixing was beating. Should I mix it with a spatula?
Hi, Hali! You don’t sound clueless at all! Basically, just beat it on low speed, not high, just until combined. Hope that helps and let me know how you like these brownies 🙂
Hi from Argentina!
How many grams would it be 2 1/2 sticks of butter?
Hi, Brenda! 1 stick of butter is 113 grams, so 2 1/2 sticks would be 282.5 grams. Hope that helps!
Great! Thanks!
I made these the other day, and they were wonderful.
One word of caution, though, so no one makes the same mistake I made… the recipe calls for 1 Tsp. Of salt. I noticed the capital T, but not the p. So I added a Tablespoon of salt. Should have been a teaspoon (tsp.). My bad. I wouldn’t recommend making this mistake. Too salty. Yet a testament to the greatness of this recipe, they were still delicious. Definitely a kEEPER.
These were a hit! Made with cream cheese frosting. Thanks for this wonderful recipe. It’s now in our family recipe box! ❤❤
Can I sub the butter to 60ml of vegetable oil? I’m ok if it’s not to moist but I just wonder…
Hi, Claire! I haven’t tried this recipe with vegetable oil, but I do think you should be able to use it in place of the butter. I’d recommend starting with 1/2 Cup of vegetable oil, and adding more if needed. 🙂
21/2 cups of butter seems like too much.Should it be 21/2 sticks?
Yes! You are absolutely right, 2 1/2 cups would be WAY too much! It should be 2 and 1/2 sticks. I’ve updated the recipe for you. Thanks for catching my typo! 🙂