Tangerine Bars

Laurie from Quirky Cupcake received a box of blood oranges from Joy the Baker in the mail last week as a gift...so, Laurie made blood orange bars. She adapted the recipe from her go to lemon bar recipe, instead of lemons using the blood oranges. Now, living in Tennessee...you can NEVER find blood oranges. So, in the conversations of how good those blood orange bars must taste..the question was raised if regular oranges would work for this. I would suppose so. But then, the Lemon Tartlett suggested tangerines. I love tangerines...I hate that they have seeds, so I normally don't eat them. I had a bag of tangerines just sitting in the fridge, wondering what would become of their fate. I can tell you what happened to them, they were looked at, squished, juiced to their deaths. It is a bittersweet thing actually...more sweet than bitter!

I liked this recipe a lot. I love the crust with the gooey center...delicious! I will probably keep this recipe on hand and substitute any citrus fruit that I may have. Thanks for sharing Laurie!

Tangerine 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 tangerine juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 C flour stirred together
Optional powdered sugar for dusting.

In the bowl of your standing mixer, blend the eggs and sugar together until smooth. Add the tangerine 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.