Orange Bars

The following “Chew This!” column has been reprinted from “The Courier-Times”, Sunday, February 17th 2019 edition. By: Blaise Doubman

A Lost Recipe, Found!
Blaise Doubman

When testing and developing recipes for my cookbooks, website and this column, I keep a detailed list of all the recipes I have made, tried, tasted, developed, published and printed. Hardly ever do I misplace a recipe but within the last year or so, it happened! I searched and searched for my recipe for orange bars. I was so proud of the recipe and now where had it gone? I love lemon bars but wondered if I could somehow make an orange version. The recipe took about two weeks to figure out and I decided that I would share it in my second cookbook. Well, needless to say the recipe never materialized, and it did not make it into my second cookbook. I just told myself I would never find the recipe and would need to develop it again later, once I had the time. Several months passed and I decided that it was about time to develop the lost orange bars recipe. I tried, unsuccessfully, for a couple of weeks and then decided to move on to other recipes. I was disappointed but not discouraged.

Over the course of the last several months I have started “weeding” my cookbook collection. Going through and donating the cookbooks I know that I will never use or have duplicates of, etc. It was a huge task, but I did finally finish. I can not even fathom the number of cookbooks I donated but the number was easily in the thousands. As I was going through all those cookbooks, organizing, separating and trying to get them in order, I found several pieces of notebook paper that I had put inside of one of the cookbooks, sticking out on the sides. I pulled them out and low and behold! There was my orange bar recipe that I had lost several months back! What were they doing inside one of my cookbooks? I have no idea. I am a relatively organized person, so what I was thinking at the time I will never know. I was thrilled to find the recipe though and even though it did not make it into my second cookbook, I am excited and thankful to share it here with all of you! Try these, they are remarkably fabulous!

Orange Bars

These are best made ahead and chilled in the refrigerator, so plan ahead with this recipe.

For the crust…
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups white all-purpose flour
½ cup white granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt

For the filling…
½ cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 ½ cups white granulated sugar
¼ cup white all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
4 large eggs

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray containing flour.

In a large bowl combine well the softened unsalted butter, white all-purpose flour, white granulated sugar and salt. Once a dough forms, press into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Place in preheated oven and bake for 18 minutes.

While the crust is baking, prepare the filling.

In a large bowl whisk well together the fresh squeezed orange juice, orange zest, white granulated sugar, white all-purpose flour, baking powder and large eggs. You will know the mixture is well combined once bubbles start appearing in the filling.

Once the crust has finished baking, remove from the oven and pour in the filling.

Return to the oven, carefully, and continue to bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top part of the bars are no longer jiggly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool 30 minutes.

Wrap in aluminum foil and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

Remove, dust with powdered sugar and cut into desired squares.

Ask and Answer: I have been getting so many air fryer questions that it has been hard for me to keep up with them all! Lot of people would like to know what brand and size I have. I have Target’s air fryer called the “Air Fryer XL” and is 5 quarts. Really when shopping for an air fryer, buy the brand and size that you think would be best for you. Lots of people have also wondered if my recipes are “air fryer friendly”. Yes! Just about any recipe is, you just have to take the time and patience in finding out the correct temperature and time. There are online charts that you can Google that will help you with this process. You can even bake in your air fryer!