I saw a picture of these orange brownies on Pinterest, and I was immediately transported to a memory of eating orange rolls dripping with orange icing.  Why am I such a sucker for anything with citrus in it?  Anyways, these orange brownies, or as I like to call them, orangies, are perfect for a light dessert.  One of my friends called them “orange heaven”.  I’ll take it!

For whatever reason, I am tied to oranges for good.  I grew up in a house in northern California, surrounded by orange trees in the front and back yards.  We would climb them and play lava monster, or hide from our beagle, Claire.  You could smell orange blossoms all over the neighborhood in the spring.

As I have trekked along my Diet Recovery, hot-temperature, metabolism-burning path, chocolate has sounded less and less interesting to me.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’ll still eat a scoop of my cocoa buttercream anyday!  However, I find myself drawn to different desserts now.  Less rich, less chocolate, more fruit, more carbs.  It’s an interesting shift.

And this cake is perfect.  It’s better the longer it sits, too.  Try it when it’s still warm, but also try it the next day when all the honey syrup has reabsorbed into the cake.  I am not sure which is better!

This recipe is adapted to be fully real foodified from this version.

Equipment Needed:

• large mixing bowl, hand mixer, rubber scraper
• large baking dish, skewers or a fork
• cooling racks
• small glass bowl, spoon

Note: You can use coconut oil or palm oil in place of the butter for a dairy-free version of this recipe.

Orangies

2 cups sprouted or freshly ground flour (buy sprouted flour here, how to make here)
1 teaspoon salt (buy unrefined sea salt here)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (buy grass-fed butter here, how to make butter here)
1 1/2 cups honey (buy raw honey here)
4 eggs
1/4 cup orange juice, freshly squeezed
1 tablespoon orange zest

glaze:
3/4 cup honey (buy raw honey here)
2 tablespoons orange juice, freshly squeezed
1 tablespoon orange zest

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Butter the baking dish generously and set aside.
2. Whisk together flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Add butter, honey, eggs, orange juice, and orange zest.  Beat on medium speed with a hand mixer until well combined and smooth.
3. Pour into the prepared pan.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until set and golden brown.
4. 5 minutes before the cake is ready to come out of the oven, make the glaze.  In a small bowl, mix together the honey, orange juice, and orange zest with a spoon until smooth.
5. Remove cake from oven, place on a cooling rack and poke holes in the top of the cake with a skewer or a fork.  Immediately pour the glaze over the cake so it can seep into each crack and crevice it can find.
6. Let cake cool completely.  Then cut into squares or triangles and serve!

This post is a part of Full Plate Thursday, Pennywise Platter, Simple Lives Thursday, Fight Back Friday, Fresh Bites Friday, Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, Allergy Free Wednesday, The Mommy Club.