Gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies recipe – sound good? Well, you’re in the right place then! They’re packed with Terry’s chocolate orange mini eggs (yes, they’re gf at the time of writing!) and incredibly fudgy and gooey in the middle.

Gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies recipe! I’ve become a bit of a chocolate orange addict in the last couple of months and as you can see… I still am ? But this time, there’s a little Easter twist…

Easter chocolate seems to turn up in supermarkets so early these days – they might as well just embrace it and make Christmas Easter eggs ?

(but should they be called Chr-easter eggs or Eastmas eggs? I’ll spend several weeks pondering over that one myself)

But on the bright side, this gives you loads of time to practise and enjoy baking my gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies recipe. Almost half the year in fact!

Oh and if you’re still sick of gluten free brownies because it’s all we’re ever offered sometimes, prepare to fall in love with brownies all over again. This is NOT your average gluten free brownie.

But why not? Well let me tell you why! This recipe is a take on my classic gluten free chocolate brownies that I posted a while back, which have been tried and tested by you guys for a few years now.

So these are the same insanely fudgy, gooey, intensely chocolatey brownies that have hopefully been restoring the reputation of the gluten free brownie ever since.

But from there, it only gets better! Then, I’ve infused them with orange extract and packed them with TONS of smashed chocolate orange mini eggs. And that only makes every single bite even better.

They have a lovely crisp, cracked top too which makes them totally irresistible and omg… how incredibly illuminous are those Terry’s chocolate orange mini eggs? ? Almost blinding!

And yes, Terry’s chocolate orange mini eggs are gluten free at the time of writing (January 2020) – here’s a link so you can go and check yourself. But don’t forget that no other Terry’s chocolate orange products are gf. They all have a ‘may contain’ warning for gluten!

So here’s what you’ll need to make my gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies recipe. Consider this your shopping list!

Ingredients for my Easter chocolate orange brownies recipe

90g gluten free plain flour
50g cocoa powder
200g butter
200g dairy free dark chocolate (dark chocolate is important it doesn’t make them taste dark!)
3 eggs
280g caster sugar
2 tsp orange extract
240g Terry’s Chocolate Orange Mini Eggs (in the UK these eggs are gluten free!)

If you’re looking for the method, just keep scrolling further down the post until you see the recipe card ??

Oh and here’s a few tips and frequently asked questions to make sure you make the perfect gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies every time:

Can I make this recipe gluten free? Is it suitable for Coeliacs?

It is gluten free, though nobody would know just by tasting it – trust me!

And yes, if you use gluten free biscuits for the base, check all your products for ‘may contain’ warnings/gluten-containing ingredients AND safely prepare your cooking area/equipment correctly – it is suitable for Coeliacs.

Bear in mind that minimising cross-contamination is hugely important if you’re Coeliac or making this for someone who is. Here’s some tips from Coeliac UK on minimising the risk of cross contamination:

Wipe down all cooking surfaces
Thoroughly clean your pots and pans with soap and water
Standard washing up liquids are fine to use or using your dishwasher will remove gluten
You do not need to use separate cloths or sponges to clean utensils and cookware
Use separate chopping boards to keep gluten free food and gluten food separate
Use a separate toaster or toaster bags for toasting any bread
Use clean oil or a separate fryer if you’re frying gluten free food
Use separate utensils and dishes for condiments, jams and spreads. Never ‘double dip’ your utensils if spreading onto food containing gluten!

Make sure that all ingredients used don’t have any gluten-containing ingredients. Then make that that they also don’t have a ‘may contain’ warning for gluten, wheat, rye, barley, oats (which aren’t gf), spelt and khorasan wheat (aka Kamut).

Here’s some more info from Coeliac UK on identifying safe gluten free products.

Can I make your gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies recipe dairy free?

Not with the mini eggs in them! The only part of this recipe that can’t be made dairy free are the Terry’s chocolate orange mini eggs which contain milk.

You can happily leave them out or replace them with dairy free chocolate orange bars like these if you like – it’s up to you! Other than that, the brownies themselves are incredibly simple to make dairy free.

Just make sure your dark chocolate and cocoa powder are dairy free. Plus, just use Stork hard baking block instead of butter and you’re good to go.

Can I make your gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies recipe vegan?

Not with the mini eggs in them! Again, because of the dairy in the Terry’s chocolate orange mini eggs, this recipe isn’t vegan as it is. However, you can always substitute the mini eggs for broken-up dairy free chocolate orange bars like these.

Instead of butter, use Stork hard margarine instead of butter. Lastly, here’s a few ideas you can use as egg replacements, so each of these = 1 egg.

3 tablespoons of aquafaba – water from a can of chickpeas. Keep the chickpeas for a future dinner!
Egg replacement powder – I’d recommend using Orgran as it’s gluten free.
1 tablespoon of chia/flax seeds mixed with 2 tablespoons of water and left for 10 minutes in the fridge.
3 tablespoons of applesauce.

Is your gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies recipe nut free?

This is a nut-free recipe as far as ingredients go, BUT the Terry’s chocolate orange mini eggs do have a may contain warning for nuts. So proceed with caution if you need to!

Is your gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies recipe low FODMAP?

Sadly, because of the high dairy content in the Terry’s chocolate orange mini eggs, this recipe isn’t low FODMAP.

Without the chocolate mini eggs, this recipe is low FODMAP.

Can I make your gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies in a food processor or standing mixer?

I’d recommend avoiding a food processor to make this as it’s not great for whisking and a little overkill for this recipe.

A standing mixer with the whisk attachment is great for whisking the eggs and sugar until pale, but I prefer to use an electric hand whisk, personally.

Otherwise, the rest of this recipe mostly involves a lot of folding in, so electric appliances aren’t really required.

Can I make your gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies without any kind of electric mixer/appliance at all?

This recipe is an awesome one to make by hand because I only use an electric mixer for whisking air into the eggs and sugar.

I make the rest of the entire recipe with a simple silicone spatula! So when it comes to whisking air in the eggs and sugar, make sure you give it lots of welly.

Whisk it fast and for a good amount of time, until it becomes pale, frothy and full of air. It’ll take longer and it’s a little more effort, but you can easily do it.

Do I need any special equipment to make your gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies recipe?

As I mentioned, you can easily make this entire recipe by hand, so you certainly don’t need any crazy appliances or anything like that.

What you will need however is a 9″ square baking tin – here’s the one I use. Apart from that, you’ll just need a little baking paper too!

Can I make this recipe without xanthan gum?

There’s actually no xanthan gum in any of my brownie recipes.

You’ll see xanthan gum in a lot of my recipes as it’s an essential ingredient in gluten free baking – in cakes and biscuits, it helps to replace gluten by binding the texture together.

Fortunately, that doesn’t apply here as my brownies are always so gooey and fudgy – they hold themselves together!

Do I need weighing scales to make your gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies?

In short… yes, yes and yes! And I wouldn’t advise attempting any my recipes without them. One of the worst things you can do in any recipe is alter the quantities by mistake or on purpose.

(unless you know what you’re doing of course)

Why? Well, you’re sort of just gambling with the recipe and praying that it turns out ok, don’t you think? And I’ve generally already done the hard work there for you, so you don’t have to do the guesswork with measurements!

A lot of work went into fine tuning ratios and quantities so I wouldn’t mess around with them unless you really know your stuff. I’d recommending using digital cooking scales like these so you know you’re getting an accurate measurement and replicating my recipe as accurately as poss.

Can I make your gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies without sugar?

I can understand the need to reduce sugar in our foods, but sugar is integral to the structure of this bake. As there’s so little sugar in dark chocolate and no other sources of sugar in the recipe, that makes sugar play a very important role.

It not only adds sweetness to the brownie, but it also helps to achieve the lovely, crisp exterior on the outside of the brownie. So yeah, remove the sugar at your own risk!

Can I use other sugar apart from golden sugar in this recipe?

You can definitely use caster sugar instead of golden sugar in this recipe – I often do when I’ve run out of golden!

But I wouldn’t recommend using any brown sugars. Also, please don’t try and use syrups to replace the sugar as they will make the mixture too wet and it’ll never cook properly!

Can I use different chocolate instead of dark chocolate, like milk chocolate?

You’d think that it’d be a simple swap, but actually it’s a terrible idea I’ve found!! It will massively throw off the fudgy texture of these brownies. Wondering why?

Well, dark chocolate is very low in sugar and high in cocoa butter, whereas milk chocolate is high in sugar and milk and much lower in cocoa butter.

Without the high content of cocoa butter in dark chocolate, you can end up with a very unappealing, cake-like, dry brownie. So it’s best to use dark chocolate at all costs!

Are Terry’s chocolate orange mini eggs gluten free?

Yes, in the UK – they are gluten free! But of course, definitely don’t take my word for it – it’s always best to check for yourself too. Click here for a link to mini eggs and check the ingredients.

At the time of writing (Jan 2020) they have no gluten-containing ingredients and no ‘may contain’ warning for gluten etc. Hooray!

How long can I keep your gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies for?

In an airtight container, they should last 7-10 days. When they start getting a little dry, they’re probably past their best.

Can I freeze my gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies?

Yep! You can freeze them for up to 2-3 months without a problem – just make sure you put it in an airtight plastic container. It’s probably a good idea to slice it all first so you can defrost a slice at a time.

A single slice should take around 4-5 hours to thaw at room temperature.

Troubleshooting

My brownies aren’t fudgy and moist in the middle like yours. They’re more like cake. What did I do wrong?

If you followed the recipe to the letter, then it’s likely that your oven was either too hot, or they were in too long. Overbaking brownies will mean they have no moisture to them and become more like a chocolate cake.

Still perfectly edible, but not much of a brownie. Also, make sure you use dark chocolate ALWAYS and never use milk chocolate to make brownies – they won’t work!

My brownies are really wet in the middle instead of being fudgy. What did I do?

Firstly, if you haven’t baked them long enough, they’ll definitely be more on the sloppy side than nice and fudgy. We want them to be moist in the middle, but not so that they fall apart when cut.

When they first come out of the oven, they’ll still be a little moist if you poke them with a skewer, but after allowing them to cool, they should be the perfect fudgy, consistency.

The skewer should come out 95% clean, with a little evidence of brownie on it. That’s perfect!

Can I print your gluten free Easter chocolate orange brownies recipe?

Of course! Just hit the print button located on the recipe below ?? (otherwise you might end up printing this entire post which would probably make your printer go into early retirement)