There really is nothing better than a brownie in the mid afternoon; a coffee completes the experience.

But WAIT! What about having the coffee IN the brownies?!

Black coffee is well known to go beautifully with chocolate and deepens the flavours in an absolutely gorgeous manner. And, as everyone who spent most of their childhood guzzling down Nestles Chocolate Oranges twice a year (Easter and Christmas, obviously) knows, the tart taste of orange cuts through the sweet bitterness of dark chocolate and goes straight for the happy. A heavenly combination if ever there was one.

With strong coffee, orange and dark, dark chocolate, these brownies are decadent with a capital D. Warning: they are not for the faint of heart.

You’ll need:
(Makes 8 brownies)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup very strong coffee (4 tablespoons coffee to 1 cup water)
1 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dark chocolate (I like Ritter Sport dark), roughly chopped
the juice of 1 orange
1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind

Method:
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius
In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, baking powder and orange rind
In a smaller bowl, stir together the coffee, oil, vanilla essence and orange juice
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry, then stir in the almonds, walnuts and dark chocolate chunks
When combined, pour the mixture into an 8X8 greased baking tray
Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean
Allow to cool, slice and enjoy!
Lay down in a darkened room to recover

To me, the coconut oil in this recipe is absolutely vital, because I love the extra flavour and the health. However, if you live somewhere coconut oil is prohibitively expensive, do feel free to use another oil (the healthier, the better).

Seriously…enjoy these.