Blood Orange Bars

Ingredients:

For the Crust

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 3/4 cup butter, softened

For the Filling

  • 2 Tablespoons blood orange zest (1 orange)
  • 1/2 cup blood orange juice (2 oranges)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • burgundy gel food coloring, optional
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8×8 pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray.

Mix together the flour, powdered sugar, and butter until a soft dough forms. Press evenly in the bottom of the prepared pan.

Bake the crust for 20 minutes.

While the crust is baking, add the zest, juice, sugar, flour, salt, and eggs to a food processor or blender. Pulse until light and frothy.

If you want your bars to be bright and vibrant, stir in a little bit of burgundy gel food coloring until the color is the same as the inside of a blood orange. This is an optional step.

Once the crust is finished baking, pulse the mixture again and pour the filling on top of the hot crust. Bake again for 25 minutes. Remove and cool completely to room temperature.

Serve with powdered sugar on top.

If you are not serving the bars the same day, cool and then refrigerate the bars. Blot the top of the bars the next day before adding the powdered sugar.