Chocolate Orange Brownies and a Giveaway!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Mine included a wonderful early morning Turkey Trot, a delicious Thanksgiving meal, a little Black Friday madness (hello Blue-Ray Home Theatre System!) and a slightly unsuccessful Taffy Pull.

I also had the pleasure of dining with a couple fellow bloggers on Friday night – We had a delightful meal at Green, a vegetarian restaurant in Tempe. Followed by some frozen yogurt and some lovely conversation.

Carolyn of Girl Meets Happy, Emily of Emily in Progress, Ari of Ari’s Menu, and Me!

Overall I had a wonderful weekend, and I have to admit – it was a little hard to wake up and go back into work this morning.

Now that Thanksgiving is over I am already getting excited for Christmas. We have put up some of our lights outside the house and we will be putting up our tree pretty soon here :) Aaand this year I am hosting Christmas dinner at our house so I am super excited to get started on my menu!

But in our home the holidays just wouldn’t be right without a ton of baking going on. I love to bring baked goods to friends this time of year weather we are meeting up for coffee or attending a holiday party. As I am sure you guys know, the holidays can get pretty busy and this doesn’t always go as planned – sometimes its nice to have a little help :)

This is where these gems come in handy ;) With a few extra ingredients you can make something magical with your standard box of brownies. Here is my spruced up brownie recipe:

When I was growing up we always had those chocolate oranges around the house. I love how the pieces of chocolate are actually shaped like orange segments :) That slightly orange flavored chocolate always remind me of the holidays – thus the inspiration for these chocolate orange brownies. I was slightly shocked at how much these brownies actually tasted like the chocolate oranges! Its just the right amount of orange balanced with all the chocolate.

Chocolate Orange Brownies

Printable Recipe

 

Ingredients:

1 box Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix

1 egg

1/3 cup oil

1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 tsp. grated orange zest

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.

 

In a large bowl combine brownie mix, egg, oil, orange juice, and orange zest. Stir until well blended and pour into prepared pan.

 

Bake brownies for 38-41 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing and serving.

Recipe: Nicole Original

Giveaway!

So to help get the holiday baking rolling I am giving three lucky readers two (2) Duncan Hines coupons for a product of their choice – the first giveaway here on The Marvelous Misadventures of a Foodie!

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite thing to bake for the holidays. If you don’t bake…tell me your favorite baked good to eat this time of year.

How it works: Entries for this giveaway will close on Wednesday November 30th at midnight. The winners will be selected at random and announced later this week.

Full disclosure:  As a part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a sample from Duncan Hines and Comstock-Wilderness