Tasty Orange Bars

These tasty Gluten-Free Orange Bars are the perfect dessert for anyone who loves oranges! Packed with flavor and seriously sweet, these bars are the perfect summertime treat! Don’t miss my Lemon Bars which inspired this recipe. Tasty and fresh juicy oranges will bring an amazing taste to your desserts

If you have never made orange bars before. Do not be intimidated. They are very easy to make! They are loaded with real orange and are sweet, buttery perfection. Fresh orange juice paired with orange zest creates a wonderful flavor that is only amplified by the rich butter crust. Orange bars are exactly like Lemon Bars, only not as tart or acidic.

Let’s get baking:

Gather all your ingredients to make this recipe easy and fast. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line your pan ( 9×13) with parchment paper. Make sure you do not have holes or cuts in your paper anywhere. I just fold corners in and cut excess paper. Since I don’t have 4 hands, I used oranges to hold two corners.

Cut up the cold butter into cubes. Use a stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Add the sugar and flour and cube butter. Mix all together to make a daugh. I have made it with two methods and I prefer cold butter. Yes, it does take a bit longer to mix together, but the dough had better consistency and baked better and a more flat shortbread base. When I have made this crust with room temperature/melted butter and while it was faster (the butter is much easier to incorporate) it does make quite a mess! I will include pictures for both methots and you choose which one is better for you.

• 2 1/2 cup of Gluten-Free flour
• 2/3 cup of powdered sugar
• 12 tbsp of soft or melted butter
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

Method with COLD butter:

• 

• 

• 

When the butter was cold, it took a bit longer to combine ingredients. But the stand mixer does the hard work for you. That way no elbows grease is needed. The dough came out not crumbly. It was easier to spread on parchment paper. When in the oven, there were no air bubbles creating under the dough. You want shortbread without cracks. That way the rest of the cake will bake on top of the shortbread and not leak under.

Method with MELTED butter:

When Butter was melted, It was very fast to combine ingredients. The dough came out very crumbly. And was OK to spread on parchment paper but felt like I am having little cracks in the daugh. When in the oven, there was one huge air bubble pushing the daugh like a volcano up from under the dough. When the shortbread base was cooling down, yes the dough got flat, but the crack in dough let my orange part of the cake leak under the shortbread base on one part of a cake. Even the picture below is not a showcase picture. You can see where the orange part leaked under the base.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Bake your shortbread base for about 20 minutes. Do keep eye on the edges, don’t overbake it, otherwise, your shortbread will be a dry mess. Gluten-free baking is a bit different from regular flour. I hope the picture below shows, how light I like to bake it. Set aside while you continue working on the rest of your dessert.

How to make the filling

While your shortbread is baking, work on your Orange deliciousness. You will need a Lemon zest from 1 large lemon and an orange zest from 2-3 large oranges.  Combine zest with sugar. Mix in a stand mixer or food processor till the sugar turns orange color from zest oils. If you do want the flavor, don’t skip on fresh orange zest and fresh-squeezed orange juice. Dried zest and juice from the bottle won’t make the trick, unfortunately.

• 1 lemon
• 2-3 big oranges
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar (but if your oranges are not as sweet use more sugar)

• 

• 

• 

While your sugar is stirring,  squeeze all your lemon and oranges. You will need about a cup of orange juice and lemon is just for an extra flavor.

Add eggs to your orange/lemon sugar and whisk till smooth. Add flour and orange extract. Whisk well until the ingredients are fully incorporated and no lumps remain. If you want to have your Orange bars brighter orange, you have to use quality eggs. Eggs from free-range chickens who run outside in the field eating not only grain have bright orange yolks. Eggs from chicken fed on grain only will have yolk more yellow. When I want to splurge on eggs, I buy from a local farmer.

• about 1 cup of an orange juice
• juice from one lemon
• 1/2 cup of gluten-Free flour
• 1/2 tsp of orange extract
• 8 whole eggs

• 

• 

Pour your mixture onto your baked shortbread and bake for 20 – 25 minutes at 350F.

• 

How to know when your bars are baked

The middle should still be a little bit jiggly, but not runny. I would say like jello, but the edges are getting set. Let it cool down before making the first cuts. At least two hours. When is cooled down, carefully pull your orange bars from a pan, that way it will be easier to cut. (here comes your parchment paper handy) I cut all my desserts with a wet knife. That way your knife doesn’t drag crumbles along with the cut.

How to store your bars

I personally liked my bars the next day even better. While these bars can be kept out at room temperature for several hours, they should be refrigerated if you can’t finish off the pan the same day you make it. If you know that you are going to be storing them, try to only cut off the pieces you need, not cutting up the entire pan into bars. I usually place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the bars and then cover it with foil. Orange bars can be stored for several days in the refrigerator.

Serve dusted with powdered sugar and orange slices. Enjoy!

DOBROU CHUT!!!

Cooking tips:

• Gently mark your shortbread with a fork on the bottom of the pan to prevent air from being trapped under.
• The bars are best cut when cold.
• If you wish to freeze for later. Individually wrap each piece and store it in a container.