Blood Orange Shortbread Bars

I love when blood oranges are in season.




The moro blood oranges are the super dark bloody-looking version. Bloody!


I needed to come up with more than just juice or frozen juice recipes to add to my blood orange repertoire.

This one was easy enough, I just adapted my Meyer Lemon Shortbread Bars recipe.



Blood Orange Shortbread Bars
Adapted from my recipe for Meyer Lemon Shortbread Bars

For an 8-by-8 inch pan, roughly 9 bars, you'll need:

For shortbread crust, you'll need:
1 cup flour
1 stick butter, about 1/2 cup, softened at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

For blood orange filling, you'll need:
3/4 cup blood orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder

Powdered sugar for topping.

Leave the butter out at room temperature until softened. Beat 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract into the butter until creamy.


Add in 1 cup flour and mix thoroughly. The mixture will be very loose and powdery.


Then, by hand, knead the flour in the bowl until it comes together. You can also dump this out on a table and do it, but I prefer to dirty as few things as possible. Anyway, this should take just a few minutes until it looks like so.


Press into a greased 8x8-inch pan. Prick with a fork. Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes.


While the shortbread crust is baking, it's time to prepare the blood orange curd topping. Using the same bowl (so you don't have to wash any additional dishes), add 3/4 cup blood orange juice, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 cup sugar, 4 eggs, 1/4 cup flour, and 1 tsp baking powder. Set aside.


Now give the blood orange/egg mixture a quick stir and pour it on top of the shortcrust. Bake for another 20 minutes until done.


Let cool for about 10 minutes. Then top with powdered sugar. Cut into squares.


Mmm. So luscious. Although, I must admit I prefer my Meyer lemon bars.


Enjoy!

Who else made blood orange bars?
Allen of Eating Out Loud added lime to his blood orange bars.

My other blood orange recipes:
Blood Orange Granita
Blood Orange Grapefruit Juice
Blood Orange Juice

*****
1 year ago today, Angkor Wat - Cambodia.
2 years ago today, Southern fried chicken, sour cream mashed potatoes, and cream gravy. So good one of my cousins skipped going to the beach in order to help me move just so he could get some.

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