poor orange

I feel sorry for the orange--what a bummer to be one of the few words that rhymes with nothing else.

On the flip side, it describes a lovely color and is the name of a fabulous fruit, so I guess it has a few things going for it.

We've been inundated with recipes combining chocolate with raspberries and cherries. There's the occasional pairing of chocolate and blueberries, pears, or apples. Bananas and strawberries bathe in the stuff on a regular basis. Where does that leave the orange (or, for that matter, other citrus fruits?)(or, dare I say it, melons?)? The only time I've ever seen chocolate mate with orange is in a truffle from a box of chocolates, and those are always my least favorite. Sad but true.

Clearly it's time that the chocolate-orange combination got some love and I submit these mini loaves as proof of that. They're delightful--refreshing in all the right ways and exploding with flavor. Moist, too. Now, if one of you comes up with an edible chocolate-watermelon concoction, be sure to let me know...

And hey--exciting news for Julie of Mommie Cooks! She won the Blog2Print giveaway.

Orange-You-Glad-You-Gave-'Em-a-Shot Chocolate-Citrus Loaves
(based on these)
3/4 cup orange juice
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a muffin tin or mini loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Whisk together the orange juice, egg, and oil. Combine the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, then add all at once to orange mixture. Stir to combine. Fill the prepared molds about 3/4 full and bake 20 minutes for muffins and around 30 minutes for mini loaves. Remove from the oven and let stand in tin for 5 minutes before attempting to remove.