When you want a quick treat, one of the most popular options we love are these Orange Fudge Brownies. Warm gooey brownies right out of the oven, or cool moist bars from the fridge, they satisfy a certain desire for fudgy, sweet, tender morsels of chocolate goodness.

These easy made from scratch Orange Fudge Brownies with Creamy Orange Frosting are rich and fudgy and packed with orange zest! Chocolate and orange go so perfectly together!

Frosted or bare, we all have our favorite ways to enjoy this baked snack. Although there are so many ways to make brownies unique and special. I love the added flavor and frosted enhancement of orange frosting. It is just creamy enough. Not overly sweet and finger licking good.

Orange fudge brownies are moist and cool, eaten right from the refrigerator. The creamy frosting of orange extract and chocolate curls doubles down on the deliciousness of the orange infused chocolate bars. With an injection of triple orange flavor, these chocolate fudge brownies offer up some bright citrusy notes to compliment the dark rich elements of fudge.

Orange brownie on a blue plate with orange slices

It’s all balanced out by neutral, earthy walnuts which add some crunch. You have the option to leave the nuts out of course. We have a mixed family of nut lovers and non nut lovers. Feel free to make these how your family likes them.

Wouldn’t you love to have those waiting in your refrigerator right now? How nice would it be to walk into your kitchen and pick up a bar of chocolate and orange flavored bliss to munch on for a short break in your day? If you’re in agreement, then I suggest you do one small thing. Go to your kitchen and find a can of sweetened condensed milk to put in the refrigerator.

The sooner you do this the faster you can indulge in the 16 2 inch squares of orange fudge brownies in this recipe. If you don’t have sweetened condensed milk, add it to your shopping list. It’s your first step to making these tantalizing goodies.

Chilled Orange Fudge Brownies

Part of the charm of these orange fudge brownies is that you enjoy them cold. Brownies cover a whole spectrum of experiences from consistency, to flavor and of course temperature. The dense moist cool orange fudge brownies are a cartable experience that once you try, you will continue to enjoy. However, this is a delight you will have to wait for.

Unlike brownies you quickly bake and enjoy right out of the pan, there are a couple of halts to the process of making these delicious iced brownies. that’s not to say these brownies are delectable when warm but we have found they are so much more when they are chilled.

Sweetened Condensed Milk

The first thing you need is that sweetened condensed milk, because even though you don’t use it until later, it needs to chill for at least two hours. It’s best if you leave it overnight in the refrigerator.

The next chilling time occurs after making the brownies. First you will allow them to cool when you take them out of the oven. Then you will frost them with this delightful homemade frosting and garnish them as desired. After you cut them, you will keep them in the refrigerator to enjoy later. You can eat them at room temp, but if you can hold out, they taste so much better cold.

Fudgy Orange Brownies

When making brownies, most people just use a boxed mix. There’s nothing wrong with a tried and true solution like that. However, when making homemade brownie mix, one of the things unfamiliar bakers often get hung up on is what flour to use.

The two big ones are all-purpose flour and cake flour. As the name implies, all-purpose flour is generally a safe bet. Cake flour may be better for some recipes, but not for brownies. What it mainly comes down to is protein content in the flour that impacts how the brownie batter binds as it bakes.

All purpose flour results in a better constructed brownie. You can see the difference when you compare the soft crumbly texture of cake to a firmer and denser brownie.

Making Orange Fudge Brownies

Your ingredients:

Ingredients for icing:

Triple the Orange for Orange Fudge Brownies

This is the part of this particular recipe that I really love. To get that lovely orange flavor throughout the chocolate brownie bar there are three elements of the citrus fruit interwoven into the brownie mix.

One of them, orange extract, also goes into the frosting you cover the brownies with when you are done baking. The orange extract is the perfect tincture to impart the citrus flavoring into the chocolatey batter. But we don’t stop there.

This recipe for orange fudge brownies also calls for just a squeeze–so to speak–of orange juice concentrate. This works with the extract and helps create a more blended orange flavor. Finally, we use orange zest in the recipe to further round out the effects of the orange and create a completeness to the orange flavor profile.

Frosting the Orange Fudge Brownies

Frosting a brownie might seem unusual to some. You might even think it’s unnecessary. A lot of people just like to eat brownies bare. You may only be familiar with frosted brownies when you see them in bakeries and coffee shops. In that sense, you might regard it as more of a luxury. It does look and taste more luxurious when you add the right frosting to the right brownie.

However, that does not mean that it’s in any way unnecessary or frivolous. as part of the recipe, it serves a purpose. It unifies the whole and it adds complexity.

Not only does this frosting carry out the orange and chocolate notes of the brownie, it does so in a way that is eye catching and it creates a different experience immediately upon tasting. The texture of the frosting is almost more important than the flavor. It’s the first thing you will notice when you bite into the brownie and it completes the whole experience.

Achieving the right texture and feel for the frosting means taking some advance steps in order to carry out the recipe precisely. Temperature is Vitally important to the ingredients you use in the frosting.

First, there is the sweetened condensed milk which you know about. That needs to be cold when you use it. On the contrary, your salted butter should be taken out of the refrigerator and warmed to room temperature. The compositions of these two ingredients change as their temperatures rise or fall. Using each ingredient in it’s prescribed state achieves the most desirable results.

frosted brownie with a fork on a white board

If your a brownie lover and love orange, you need this in your life. You won’t be able to keep your hands of these little gems. As a matter of fact we normally bake two batches these days. Any leftovers last for days or we share with friends or family.

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