Yummy Orange Dreamsicle Bars

The other day, my husband called me in the middle of the day and asked "What are we having for dessert tonight?" We rarely actually have a dessert after dinner, so obviously his sweet tooth had attacked. My first thought was lemon bars. As you have probably heard me mention before, I always have lemons on hand. I usually keep them on display in a wood bowl on our dining table. They are aromatic, and oh so pretty to look at. We had just had lemon bars a few weeks before, but that's all I had the ingredients for...until I remembered I had a big bag of Cuties in the refrigerator that needed to be eaten. I then wondered what these easy to make bars would taste like with oranges instead of lemons.

I followed the classic recipe for lemon bars, only substituting the oranges for a small amount of orange juice and juiced oranges.

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Next, to make the crust I used the following:

1/2 cup of butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup oats
1 cup all-purpose flour (Yes, I used bread flour. Made no difference to me.)

Mix all of these ingredients together in a mixer or even with a fork until they look crumbly. You'll then pour them in a 9x9 casserole dish and press together to form a crust.

Then you will bake for about 15-17 minutes until it is golden and a little firmer. While it is baking, you can make the orange mixture. For that you will need:

2 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 oranges, juiced
1/8 cup orange juice

Whisk together until incorporated.  Pour on top of the baked crust while crust is still hot. Then continue to bake at 350 degrees for an additional 20 minutes. Let cool for at least 30 minutes. Slice up into squares and you have orange bars that taste just like a dreamsicle! I will say, the next time I do this I may not use quite as much sugar, because they were a tad on the sweet side for my taste. I think it really depends on your taste, because my husband thought they were perfect.