Orange Curd Brownies

Deeply fudgy brownies with a swirl of delicious homemade orange curd on top... because chocolate and orange are such a delicious combination of flavors. 

 
These orange curd brownies are moist, fudgy, and totally decadent. They are loaded with a full half pound of melted bittersweet chocolate, and just ooze with chocolate-y goodness. 

If that isn't enough, these brownies are topped with homemade orange curd, which is swirled through the top layer. The orange and chocolate flavors are so good together they should probably get married. Together, they give these brownies a sophisticated flavor profile. 

These brownies will disappear in no time.

How to Make The Orange Curd:

Before you make the brownies, you will need to make the orange curd. The ingredients include orange zest, orange juice, cornstarch, sugar, eggs, a bit of salt, and butter. 

You cook the sugar, eggs, zest, cornstarch, juice, and salt. When it thickens, you remove it from the heat, strain it, stir in butter by tablespoon, and then chill the curd. 

This curd is delicious and I could pretty much eat it with a spoon... or drink it. You can make it in advance and keep it in the refrigerator for up to a week. 

How to Make these Orange Curd Brownies:

Once you have the curd, make the brownie batter. Melt chopped bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler along with butter until smooth. Remove the chocolate and butter mixture from the heat and stir in the granulated and brown sugar and let the mixture cool. 

While the mixture is cooling, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and expresso powder in another bowl. 

After that, add four eggs to the chocolate mixture, one at a time, and whisk them in, along with vanilla extract. 

Finally, fold in the flour mixture to form the batter. You will need to reserve about a cup of the batter to use to create the chevron pattern with the orange curd on the top of the brownies. 

To make the pattern, place the batter in a piping bag with a 1/2 inch tip and place the curd in another piping bag with a smaller tip. The curd is much runnier, so the smaller tip will give you more control. 

If you don't have piping tips, you can use plastic storage bags to pipe the ingredients. Just fill the bags and cut a small hole in the corner of each bag. 

Pipe the batter first. Pipe it around the border of the pan, and then create seven evenly spaced rows in the batter. 

After that, pipe the curd in between the rows of batter. There should be eight rows of curd. 

Finally, draw a toothpick in one direction in a straight line. Lift it up and then draw it in the opposite direction, and then back and forth, lifting it between drawing it through, about one inch apart. You don't have to be perfect. Once you've created the pattern, bake the brownies in a 325 degree F oven.

Because these brownies are super fudgy, you definitely need them to cool completely before cutting them so that they can firm up. 

For the orange flavor, I used the zest and juice from the tangelos from our backyard tree. Our backyard is essentially a patio with a strip of dirt that is about three to four feet wide all around, yet we've been lucky enough to enjoy the bounty of this amazing citrus. 

This tree is super old (at least 40 years), and was here before we moved in, so we don't know how much longer we'll get to enjoy this fruit. In the meantime, every winter we get to look out of our back kitchen window to this view. Plus, the critters who run across our back wall in the wee hours seem to leave the fruit alone (unlike with stone fruit). 

This recipe makes nine 2 2/3 inch by 2 2/3 inch square brownies. These brownies are very rich, so you can also cut the brownies into smaller pieces for just a taste and still satisfy your chocolate cravings. 

Pro Tips:

Tip 1:

Use a kitchen scale to measure out how much batter to pour into the baking pan by placing the pan on the scale. It makes it so easy! 

Same for measuring the curd into the piping bag... just place the piping bag into a glass, fold it over the sides, and add the curd until the scale registers the right amount. 

Tip 2:

Line the baking pan with parchment paper with some of the paper folded over the sides of the pans. This makes it so easy to lift the baked brownies out of the pan before slicing them. I keep a large supply of parchment paper on hand. For rolled parchment, Reynolds is excellent, and for sheets, I recommend King Arthur Baking. Both products are nonstick. 

Tip 3:

Espresso powder is the secret sauce to bringing out the flavor of chocolate. However, if you've ever purchased espresso powder, used some, and then found it to have completely hardened in your cupboard when you went to bake with it again, you will be so frustrated (at least I have)! 

You can run it through a coffee grinder to re-powderize it, but it will just harden again for the next time you need it. To prevent this from happening in the future, keep it in the freezer. It's pretty much a miracle! I used to stuff my espresso powder jars with silica packets in the hope that the espresso powder wouldn't become hardened, but even that wouldn't work. Your freezer is the answer! 

Welcome to Chocolate Week! All week long, food bloggers will be posting recipes to celebrate chocolate. Our organizer is Christy of A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures. 

More Chocolate Recipes

• Brownie Mix Cookies from Kathryn's Kitchen Blog
• Brownie Muffins from Cheese Curd In Paradise
• Chocolate Caramels from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies from Palatable Pastime
• Chocolate Meringue Pie from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Chocolate-Covered Brownie Hearts from The Redhead Baker
• Easy Black Forest Bundt Cake from Blogghetti
• Easy Chocolate Mousse from Devour Dinner
• Easy Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Fudge from The Spiffy Cookie
• Hot Chocolate Fudge from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Ice Cream Cake Roll from An Affair from the Heart
• Icebox Mocha Cake from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Orange Curd Brownies from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Pork Tenderloin with Chocolate Molasses Gravy from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Red Velvet Pancakes from That Recipe
• Starbucks White Hot Chocolate from The Fresh Cooky
• Valentine Treat Board from Magical Ingredients
• White Chocolate Blondies from Shockingly Delicious

Orange Curd Brownies

Yield: 9 bars

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 40 MinTotal time: 1 Hour

Deeply fudgy brownies with a swirl of delicious homemade orange curd on top... because chocolate and orange are such a delicious combination of flavors.

Ingredients

For the Orange Curd

• 79 grams (1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon) granulated sugar
• 1 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 120 grams (1/2 cup) fresh orange juice
• 76 grams (1/3 cup) unsalted butter, cut into cubes

For The Brownies

• 226 grams (8 ounces) bittersweet (60 percent) chocolate, chopped
• 170 grams (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, cubed
• 200 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar
• 165 grams (3/4 cup packed) dark brown sugar
• 156 grams (1 1/4 cups) unbleached all purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon espresso powder
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 200 grams (3/4 cup) orange curd

Instructions

To Make the Orange Curd

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, eggs, zest, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in the orange juice. Set the heat to medium low and cook, stirring contantly, until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken, and reaches 170 degrees F. This should take about 7 minutes.
2. Remove from the heat and strain the mixture into a heat proof bowl. Add the butter, a tablespoon at a time, and stir until incorporated.
3. Once all of the butter has been incorporated, cover the top of the curd with plastic wrap (pressing it against the mixture) and let cool. Refrigerate up to one week.

To Make the Brownies

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees F and line an 8 inch square cake pan with parchment paper and spray it with spray oil.
2. Melt the chopped bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler along with the butter until smooth. Remove the chocolate butter mixture from the heat and stir in granulated and brown sugar and let the mixture cool.
3. While the mixture is cooling, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and expresso powder.
4. After that, add four eggs to the chocolate mixture, one at a time, and whisk them in, along with the vanilla extract.
5. Finally, fold in the flour mixture to form the batter.
6. Pour 835 grams (3 cups) of the batter into the pan and smooth over the top.
7. Add the rest of the batter to a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch tip.
8. Add the curd to another pastry bag with a 1/4 inch tip.
9. Take the pastry bag with the batter and pipe it all around the edges of the pan. Next, draw 7 lines, one inch apart, perpendicular to each other. Fill in between the 7 lines of batter with 8 lines of the curd with the curd pastry bag.
10. Use a toothpick and draw a line perpendicular to the piped lines about one inch from the edge of the pan. Lift the toothpick, move over one inch, and draw another line in the opposite direction. Continue to draw the lines, one inch apart, in opposite directions.
11. Bake the brownies for 40 to 45 minutes. Under baking is better than over baking.
12. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

524.45

Fat (grams)

25.74

Sat. Fat (grams)

15.04

Carbs (grams)

68.75

Fiber (grams)

1.43

Net carbs

67.32

Sugar (grams)

52.55

Protein (grams)

6.64

Sodium (milligrams)

194.41

Cholesterol (grams)

163.74

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2022/01/orange-curd-brownies.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

Brownies, curd, chocolate, orange

Dessert

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This recipe was adapted from Bake From Scratch Magazine. I love my subscription.