My husband loves lemon bars but I have personally never been a big fan of lemon in desserts because it can be a bit sharp. I had a bag of Cara Cara oranges that needed to be used up so I decided to try to make a lemon bar recipe that would be a bit more salty and less tart.
I love the results and the gorgeous color from these special little oranges! You could definitely use standard navel oranges but it may be a tad more sweet. These have a lovely buttery crust that reminds me of a flaky Blondie with fresh orange jam on top. Delicious!
Cara Cara Orange Bars
A seasonal, less-sweet take on the classic lemon bar
I always recommend reading the entire recipe before you begin
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, melted
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
Filling
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 5 TBSP (2.5 oz) Cara Cara orange juice
- 2 tsp orange zest
- 1 cup sugar
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°, spray a 9″x13″ glass pan with baking spray or grease with butter.
- In a medium bowl, sift flour and powdered sugar together. Add salt, vanilla extract and melted butter. Use a fork to gently mix until just combined to create a flaky crust.
- Use fingers or silicone spatula to press mixture evenly into pan.
- Bake 20 minutes or until the edges of the crust begin to turn light brown.
- While crust bakes, prepare mixer with whisk attachment. Whisk together sugar, eggs, orange juice and orange zest until well blended.
- Once crust is done, remove from the oven and pour filling mixture on top. Bake 15 minutes before loosely tenting with foil to avoid burning. Bake an additional 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and place on a wire cooling rack. Once completely cooled, Dust top with powdered sugar.
- Cut into squares and enjoy!
While Oliver Sleeps 