Orange Brownies

I can officially say these are award winning brownies. kind of... So, my Aunt Janet puts together this big event every year called "The Games Party". It began at her house more than 20 years ago with family and close friends competing in multiple board games. It has since progressed into a huge ordeal that usually includes almost 200 participants. She now rents a hall to hold everyone. There is always a theme and each team of 8 is assigned to bring 4 pot luck dishes that relate to the theme of the year. This year's theme was Florida and my team was assigned to make desserts. Is key lime pie the first thing that came to mind? I'm pretty sure that's the first thing that came to everyone's mind, so I tried to think of a more original Floridian dessert. I figured anything orange or citrus would work, and low and behold I came across a very interesting Paula Dean recipe for orange brownies. I added a graham cracker crust, but other than that I stuck to the original recipe. The topping was a bit messy and goopy and in my opinion they didn't look so hot, but I had to bring something. I was running late as usual so there wasn't any time for other options. Our team didn't do so great in the games portion of the night, but we still had a lot of fun. I was shocked when I started getting complements on my brownies. Someone even asked me for the recipe and I found out someone else (who shall remain nameless), took an extra one home so his wife could try it. My brownies won third place overall out of 100 dishes! I was super excited about that. I think the "Girls Gone Wild" dessert beat me, but how could I compete with jello shots??

I looove my mixer! Thanks Mom! 

Ingredients

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• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure orange extract
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups cinnamon graham cracker crumbs
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

Glaze:

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• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

• For the crust: In a medium bowl, mix together graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and sugar. Press  mixture firmly into bottom and sides of 13 by 9 inch pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, until lightly browned.

• In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and salt. Add butter, eggs, orange extract, and orange zest and beat with an electric mixer until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until light golden brown and set. Remove from oven and pierce top of entire cake with a fork.

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• Glaze:

• Combine all ingredients in a bowl, stirring until smooth. Pour glaze over cake. Cool cake and cut into squares. 

Source: adapted from Foodnetwork.com