If your mom loves lemon bars or anything citrus, make this blood orange tart for her! She will love it! It’s a recipe similar to traditional lemon bars. It starts out with a buttery shortbread crust and then is filled with a blood orange filling…like lemon bars, but blood orange is even more intense in flavor and color!
ShopRite Stores sponsored this recipe. We love to shop at our local ShopRite store and always look for the Bowl and Bakset labels to stock our pantry and refrigerator.
What ingredients will I need for the recipe?
- Unsalted butter
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Blood oranges
- Salt
- Vanilla
- Freeze-dried strawberries
- Confectioners sugar
What Substitutions Can I Make?
- Don’t like a shortbread crust? Try a graham cracker or cookie crust.
- Can’t find blood oranges, use lemon, orange or grapefruit, or a combination of citrus.
An important note:
This recipe is pretty straightforward, but it’s worth mentioning that the tart (or bars) need to cool for one hour at room temperature after baking and then overnight in the refrigerator.
What if I don’t have a tart pan?
We love using a tart pan, but you can use a cake pan too! You will need to adjust your baking time to slightly longer since you will use all the filling.
Make this Blood Orange Tart For Mom
Similar to traditional lemon bars, but made in a tart pan, and we swapped lemons for blood oranges!
- Prep Time: 90 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 6–12 1x
- Category: dessert
Ingredients
For the Shortbread Crust:
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the Filling:
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons blood orange zest
- 1/2 cup blood orange juice (4–5 blood oranges)
- 1/4 cup flour
- 4 eggs
- pinch of salt
For the Topping:
- 1/4 cup freeze-dried strawberries (blended until a fine powder)
- Confectioners sugar
Instructions
- Prepare the shortbread crust. Preheat oven to 325º. Use a rectangle tart pan with a removable bottom. Line with parchment paper, leaving 3″ on each end. This makes it easy to remove from the tart pan. If using a 8 x 8 cake pan, line it with parchment paper, leaving an overhang. Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray.
- Combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the melted butter, vanilla and stir until a crumbly dough forms. Add more flour as needed, then transfer to the tart pan (or cake pan) and press evenly into the bottom and sides of the tart pan. (bottom only if using cake pan). Make sure it is not too thin on the sides, or it will burn more easily.
- Bake for approximately 30 minutes, checking often. Cover loosely with foil if it looks like it’s getting too brown. (You want a nice golden crust).
- When you remove from the oven, take a flat spatula and flatten the bottom to prepare for the filling.
- While the shortbread crust is baking, prepare the blood orange filling. Combine the sugar and blood orange zest in a bowl and massage until fragrant.
- Add the flour to the sugar and zest and whisk to combine. Then add the eggs, blood orange juice, and salt. Whisk until the eggs are completely incorporated.
- Pour the blood orange mixture through a sieve and discard the zest. Pour the strained mixture into the shortbread crust, making sure not to overfill. You may have some filling left over if using a tart pan.
- Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake until the center is set. It takes about 30-34 minutes.
- Place on a cooling rack for an hour before transferring to the refrigerator overnight.
- When ready to serve, remove the tart from the pan and place it on a cutting board or serving tray.
- For the topping, Blend the freeze-dried strawberries in a smoothie blender until you have a powdery consistency.
- Using a fine mesh sieve, dust the tart first with the strawberry powder, then follow it with a dusting of confectioners sugar.
- Serve cold or at room temperature.
Notes
You will have quite a bit of shortbread dough left over. Not enough to half the recipe, so make shortbread cookies and dust them with the freeze-dried strawberries and confectioners sugar. Or, make a log and store it in the freezer for later!
Such a lovely tart Annie! I love blood oranges, I had never even heard of them before I studied in Rome when I was in college. The color and flavor make such a statement and this tart looks delicious!