Blood Orange Bars |Phoenix Food Photographer
This Blood Orange Bar shoot was a confluence of two things: citrus season and new gear. I switched all my lighting gear to Westcott last year, and have been slowly been adding modifiers to my collection. I just acquired a new strip bank, and had to try it out! It’s their 1x3 Rapid Box with an egg crate, and I LOVED it. As someone who always struggled to set up a traditional octobank or strip bank, I love the whole Rapid Box line. Super user friendly!
Sorry I got so in the weeds there. The other reason I made these Blood Orange Bars is it’s CITRUS SEASON! I was just going to make lemon bars with lemons donated by my sweet neighbor, but her tree was reaching the end of production and they didn’t look great. Not good for a photo shoot! So I substituted blood oranges from my tree for the lemons, and they turned out amazing!
They’re a lovely orangey-pink color, and a little sweeter than a traditional lemon bar. I used David Lebovitz’s recipe for Whole Lemon Bars, but modified it pretty heavily to accomodate all of my food…issues (thanks COVID!) by substituting gluten free flour and non-dairy butter. I also included a little lemon juice and a little less sugar to tone down the sweetness. This is really the BEST lemon bar recipe. It uses a whole lemon (or in this case, blood orange) thrown in the food processor, which sounds weird, but I promise it’s so good. Let me know if you make them!
You’ll find my modified recipe below, and I promise I won’t make you scroll for days to find it.
Blood Orange bars (adapted from this recipe)
Crust
1 cup (140g) Gluten Free flour with xanthan gum
1/4 cup (50g) sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (115g) melted unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (we were gifted some for Christmas and I’m OBSESSED)
Blood Orange custard
1 blood orange, organic or unsprayed
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons (45ml) freshly squeezed blood orange juice
3 large eggs, room temperature
4 teaspoons tapioca starch/flour (can use corn starch, but I can’t have corn either… sigh)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons (45g) melted plant butter
Powdered sugar, for dusting over cooled bars
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
Turn over an 8-inch square metal pan on the counter and wrap the outside with foil, smoothly folding down the corners. Take your time! Remove the foil, turn the pan over, and fit the foil gently into the pan. Lightly spray with nonstick spray.
In a bowl, mix the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 8 tablespoons melted butter, and vanilla bean paste, stirring just until mixed.
Press the batter into the bottom of the pan.
Bake the crust for 20 minutes, or until it’s golden brown.
While the crust is cooking, cut the blood orange in half, remove the seeds (mine didn’t have any), and cut the blood orange into pieces.
Put the pieces of blood orange in a food processor with the sugar and blood orange juice, and let it run until the blood orange is completely chopped up. Add the eggs, tapioca starch, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 3 tablespoons (45g) melted butter, and blend until almost smooth. (Bits of peel are encouraged!)
When the crust is ready, reduce the heat to 300ºF (150ºC). Pour the lemon filling over the hot crust and bake for 25 minutes or just until the filling stops jiggling. These will be lovely and soft.
Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Once cool, carefully lift out the bars using the foil. Cut the bars into squares. A long serrated knife gave me perfect cuts. Sift powdered sugar over the top just before serving. It will get absorbed into the bar if you let it sit too long.
ENJOY!
