Orange Brownies

When I get stressed, or bored, or antsy, or if I have anything else I should be doing, I usually end up baking.  One time, when I was stressed, Max looked over to me and said, "do you need to bake something?"  This week has been one of those weeks.  I'm on spring break so I'm bored and I feel stuck in the house.  So, I made chocolate orange brownies.  I really wanted to make a cake, but we were missing some ingredients.  I think I will need to try something more challenging soon because as soon as the brownies were done, I wanted to make something else.

These Chocolate Orange Brownies were good, but a little dry.  I think I overcooked them a little because they had set all of the way when I took them out and a toothpick came out clean.  I even cooked them for five minutes less than the recipe called for, but I've mentioned my crazy oven before, right?

Chocolate Orange Brownies
From: Rock Recipes

• 3/4cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1/4teaspoon salt
• 1/2cup butter
• 5 squares unsweetened chocolate
• 3/4cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup light-brown sugar
• 3large eggs
• 1teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4cup semisweet chocolate chips
• zest of one large orange

1. Sift together flour, cocoa and salt. Melt together butter and unsweetened chocolate over low heat (either in the microwave or a double boiler). Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. Add eggs,vanilla and sugars. Stir very well until sugars are dissolved.
2. Gently fold in dry ingredients. Then fold in: zest of one large orange, finely grated and chopped
3. Pour batter into a 9 inch square baking pan that has been greased and lined with parchment paper (or just greased like I did). Sprinkle the top of the batter with the chocolate chips.
4. Bake for about a half hour (I baked for 25 minutes and they were overcooked, start at 20) at 350 degrees F or until the surface of the center of the brownies appears dry and firm. Toothpick test will not work for this recipe but it will tell you if the middle is still liquid. Do not over bake these brownies or they will be dry rather than moist and chewy.
5. Cut into squares when still slightly warm, they cut more cleanly.