
Yield: 16-ish bars, depending on how you cut ‘em
Ingredients
Rye Shortbread Crust:
- 1 ½ cups (180g) Maine Grains Organic Rye Flour
- ⅓ cup (38g) confectioners’ sugar
- zest of 1 blood orange
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted
Blood Orange Curd:
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 large egg yolks, room temperature
- ¾ cup (143g) caster (AKA superfine) sugar*
- ½ cup (124g) freshly squeezed blood orange juice
- ¼ cup (60g) lemon juice
- zest of 1 blood orange
- pinch of kosher salt
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, cubed & room temperature
Decoration:
- confectioners’ sugar
- candied blood orange slices
*If you don’t have caster (AKA superfine) sugar, very briefly blitz granulated sugar in a spice grinder or blender. Don’t grind too much, otherwise you’ll end up with confectioners’ sugar!
Directions
- Heat oven to 375°F. Grease and line an 8" x 8" metal baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together rye flour, confectioners’ sugar, blood orange zest, and salt.
- Pour melted butter into bowl of dry ingredients. Mix with a spatula until butter is throughout. (Ditch the spatula and get in there and mix with your hands, if necessary, to fully incorporate the butter.)
- Press crust mixture evenly into the bottom of your baking pan.
- Place crust in freezer for 15 minutes.
- Retrieve crust from freezer. Slightly crumple a piece of parchment paper, then use to line crust, making sure parchment reaches all the corners of the pan. Fill with pie weights or dry beans, then place in oven.
- Bake for 10–12 minutes. Remove parchment and weights/beans; allow crust to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
- Now it’s curd time! In a heatproof bowl, whisk together eggs, egg yolks, and sugar.
- Place bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure that the bowl doesn’t touch the water’s surface. Keep whisking until yolks lighten (1–3 minutes), then add blood orange juice, lemon juice, and zest.
- Continue whisking for 8–10 minutes until mixture has thickened a little.
- Add salt, then add butter one piece at a time, mixing until fully incorporated.
- Strain curd into another bowl, then pour on top of cooled shortbread crust.
- Bake for 12–18 minutes until curd is set.
NOTE: To check whether or not your curd is set, without removing the pan from the oven, give it a gentle jiggle. If the curd is firm at the edges and still wobbles a little in the centre, it’s done. If it ripples when shaken or looks watery, bake for a few minutes more. - Transfer baking pan to wire rack and allow to cool to room temperature, about an hour.
- Chill bars in fridge until fully set, 3–4 hours.
- Remove curd bar slab from pan by pulling up on the parchment paper. Cut into 16 bars.
- If you like, dust bars with confectioners’ sugar before serving. We also recommend topping some bars with candied blood orange slices!
Did you try this recipe? Tag @fikabrodbox or #fikabrödbox!
Leave a Reply