Baked From ScratchA couple days ago, my friend Joy mailed me blood oranges from Cali. I was thrilled! Joy is the best! As they sat on my counter, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them. I peeled one and ate it up. Mmm, thems are some tasty oranges. I still was not sure what to make with them. After much hemming and hawing, I decided to take a stab at blood orange bars. I looked up one recipe on the net and used my go-to Lemon Bar recipe as a guide, pretty much melding the 2 together.
Lemme just say, Orange Bars are underrated. It’s always, lemon, lemon, lemon. Orange is just as good. Orange deserves some cred! These bars are awesome. I thought that maybe I added too much sugar, but Jaos quickly corrected me that they were “perfect just as they are.” I advise you to pick up some blood oranges and bake these darlins up. They will not disappoint. Lemon can sit this round out. No hard feelings Lemon!
Blood Orange Bars
Crust:
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
a pinch of salt
Toss all the ingredients into your stand mixer or food processor. Mix until combined and crumbly. Press lightly into 9 x 13-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes and cool slightly.
Filling:
4 beaten eggs
2/3 cup blood orange juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 C flour stirred together
Optional powdered sugar for dusting.
In the bowl of your standing mixer(I wiped my KA bowl clean with a paper towel after the crust and continued), blend the eggs and sugar together until smooth. Add the orange juice and again blend until smooth. Add the flour, mix on low-medium until incorporated. Pour the filling into the warm crust. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until the center of the bars no longer jiggles.
Cool to room temperature, or refrigerate if you like your citrus bars chilled. Gently dust with powdered sugar when about to serve.
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These sound fabulous, if I ever get my hands on blood oranges I am going to try them! Do you think they would be as good with regular oranges?
Comment by Michelle February 28, 2008 @ 9:14 amThese look so good! I can’t get blood oranges here either, so I think that I will try them with regular oranges and see how they turn out.
Comment by April February 28, 2008 @ 9:41 amHow lucky are you lady?! I want to receive fabulous blood oranges in the mail! Your bars look yummy, are you practicing for the next TWD?
Comment by mari February 28, 2008 @ 10:03 amBeautiful! Love your photos. And this is such a great twist on blood oranges.
Comment by Karen February 28, 2008 @ 11:13 amyou are such a stinker. No fair rubbing it in. I look outside at melting snow. Almost makes me wish I lived somewhere with weather conducive to growing them. And pomegranates. And avocadoes.
Comment by Tempered Woman February 28, 2008 @ 11:14 amMichelle- I absolutely think they would do fine with regular oranges. I will be making them again and using reg. oranges myself.
April- Lemme know if you do make them!
mari- I am indeed a lucky gal with very generous friends.
Karen- Thanks so much!
TW- I didnt mean to rub it in, just wanted Joy to know I did bake with them. I would love to live somewhere that I could grow citrus too. The burgh is def not the place for that.
Comment by slush February 28, 2008 @ 11:27 amThese look so so so delicious!! And no, I don’t think they would be as good with regular oranges–if only for the fact that the name wouldn’t have blood in it anymore. Makes them sound kind of badass, you know? And your pictures are so lovely! You rock my world.
Comment by Cakespy February 28, 2008 @ 11:58 amCakespy- It does make them sound badass, which makes me smile. Im such a dork. Thanks for your sweet comment!
Comment by slush February 28, 2008 @ 12:15 pmYou made Rock and Roll citrus bars! How cool is that!? Very cool. Very cool. You did my oranges proud and I’m so glad you enjoyed them.
Comment by joythebaker February 28, 2008 @ 12:23 pmTempered Woman, I’ll have to send you something yummy sometime. I really like to share!
Joy- So glad you approve of your oranges fate!
Comment by slush February 28, 2008 @ 12:38 pmJuicy! I’ll be making these for sure.
Comment by Rachel February 28, 2008 @ 1:10 pmThat orange slice is…. perfection………..
huh?!
What?!
There’s an orange bar in that pic?!
Comment by bombshellwithin February 28, 2008 @ 1:31 pmOh suuuure, no hard feelings Lemon she says. Gonna have to sit this one out Lemon she says. How could you do such a thing? It’s unheard of! Unkind! You’d never catch me… ummm… using something other than… ummm… hey, do y’all think this would work with tangerines? Tangerines are so tasty. What about Temple oranges?
Comment by lemontartlet February 28, 2008 @ 1:37 pmI’m now craving blood oranges! They are sooo delicious and beautiful. The bars look fabulous, but if I could get my hands on some blood oranges, I think I’d have to eat them all raw instead.
Comment by Kristina February 28, 2008 @ 1:45 pmOoooh, I love LT’s idea to use tangerines, I can find those in abundance and wouldn’t mind sacrificing a few to a recipe…
I certainly do not have blood oranges here, but I have had a request for orange bars instead of lemon. I must try this!
Comment by Gretchen Noelle February 28, 2008 @ 2:06 pmHaha, I bought blood oranges once because they were on sale. It didn’t occur to me to tell my hubby that they were diff. than normal oranges. He took one to work and when he got home the next day he said “I think those oranges are bad. I cut it open & it was RED inside, so I threw it away.” I had to laugh as I told him that it was supposed to be that way. Kind of like a ruby red grapefruit. He didn’t get it.
Comment by zebe912 February 28, 2008 @ 2:17 pmRachel- Lemme know if you make em!
bombshellwithin- I gobbled that orange slice right up after the photo shoot. Yum.
LT- Sometimes another fruit has to step up to the plate, no offense. And tangerines would be awesome I think.
Kristina- I did eat quite a few straight up, no funny business. They are oh so good.
Gretchen- Lemme know if you try em out!
zebe912- Thats pretty funny, Jaos and the boys were all taken aback by the color. I got to hoard all the plain oranges to myself. They did dig into the bars though. Silly boys.
Comment by slush February 28, 2008 @ 2:24 pmI was just looking for something to make for a work thing on Friday. I think I may have found it (as long as I can find some blood oranges!)
Comment by Deborah February 28, 2008 @ 2:25 pmWow! Those bars look fantastic. I work at an organic juice company that produces blood orange juice, so I get it free and am always looking for good blood orange juice recipes. Thanks for sharing this one — do you mind if we share it with our customers? Our product is Italian Volcano Blood Orange Juice in case you’re interested in taking a look.
Thanks!
Comment by Ann February 28, 2008 @ 6:20 pmAnn
Oooh, oooh, ooooh, these look and sound fabulous! I passed those oranges right by when I was in Whole Foods the other day. Looks like I have to go back now. Your bars are making me drool. And I agree that orange is highly underrated!
Comment by kellypea February 28, 2008 @ 7:25 pmHoly cow! Thank you so much for posting this! I bought some blood oranges from the market last week and still have them sitting here since A) I have no clue what to make with them and B) I’m allergic to all oranges so there was no thought given to “just peel and eat… duh” hahaha.
thank you
Comment by Em February 28, 2008 @ 9:09 pmthank you
of course seeing as how I love lemon bars, once I make the blood orange bars I’ll have to, yanno, try one… and then my allergies will kick in and I’ll be unable to complete another entry in my own blog… and I’ll summarily blame you. hahahaha no worries =)
Deborah- Please let me know what ya think if you make them!
Ann- Sure, share away!
kellypea- I really did love the way they came out. I still thought maybe it was a tad too much sugar, but my hubs insists they are fine.
Em- WOW! Orange allergy, thats an odd one. I cant imagine. Ill take the blame, Im used to it. Only girl, middle child syndrome.
Comment by slush February 28, 2008 @ 9:15 pmthose look so damn good!!!!
Comment by LadyShay February 28, 2008 @ 10:04 pmThose sound and look amazing! Now I’m going to have to decide between making them and making gelees with my blood oranges… or just buy more blood oranges and make both!
Comment by Caitlin February 28, 2008 @ 10:32 pmLadyShay- Thanks!
Caitlin- OoOo, I have never made gelees before. Send me the recipe!
Comment by slush February 28, 2008 @ 10:42 pmYou made me buy blood oranges in the store. The increase in my budget is blamed on you.
Comment by lemontartlet February 28, 2008 @ 11:50 pmYour bars look really yummy. I once made lemon bars for a Halloween potluck and colored them orange. Everyone there was absolutely convinced that they were orange-flavored, even though I tried to convince them otherwise. The power of suggestion… I’ll have to try actually making them with orange juice. =)
Comment by Di February 28, 2008 @ 11:51 pmYUM! i love lemon bars but i don’t see why orange bars wouldn’t be just as good!
Comment by Jaime February 29, 2008 @ 12:46 amI made orange bars for the first time last night with regular juice oranges, and let me tell you….. they are fabulous! I brought them into work so I wouldn’t eat them all and my boss said they are better than lemon!
Comment by tsobserver May 21, 2008 @ 2:09 pmYou’ve officially made my month. I was digging through recipes last night to decide what I wanted to make for an upcoming potluck for the benefit of the Alzheimer’s Association. I came accross a wicked meyer lemon bar recipe, and said to myself, “WHY NOT BLOOD ORANGES?? Does this type of bar even exist?!”
Low and behold, I’ve found you through minimal searching. Your pictures are second to none, and I fear I’ll need a new keyboard as mine is flooded with drool.
Thanks for the recipe, and I cannot wait for the gang to dig into these!
Comment by Joe January 16, 2009 @ 11:26 amWhere I was born(not in California) blood oranges are very common. I buy them quite often when they are in season and just eat them. I made fennel and blood orange salad but have never cooked with them. I will defenitely make these bars this weekend for Easter.
Comment by Yolanda April 7, 2009 @ 11:04 am