Week 16 Recipe: Orange Brownies

This week our neighborhood had a block party.  It was great catching up with old friends and meeting some of our newer neighbors.  Everyone pitched in and brought either a side dish or dessert.  The food was great, and I managed to wrangle a couple of new recipes to add to my repertoire.  

My contribution was a tried and true favorite - orange brownies.  This is a Paula Deen recipe that she got from a Pillsbury bake off finalist.  These brownies are off the chart delicious; if this recipe was just a finalist I can't imagine what won!

Tread carefully...this is from Paula Deen, so make sure your gym membership is paid up before you turn that oven on!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks of butter, softened

4 eggs

2 teaspoons pure orange extract

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Glaze:

1 cup confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan and set aside. In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and salt. Add butter, eggs, orange extract, and orange zest and beat with a handheld 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.

Glaze:

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