Raspberry Orange Shortbread Bars

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These Raspberry Orange Shortbread Bars are drizzled with a delicious vanilla glaze! They’re sweet, fruity dessert bars that are perfect for summer! And to make them even more fun, they’re made with juice pulp!

These fruity cookie bars pair so well with my Raspberry Paloma Cocktails! Treat yourself to raspberry goodness all around!

Overhead view of Raspberry Orange Shortbread Bars

Raspberry & Orange Shortbread Bars

The products used in this post were provided by KitchenAid, but all opinions are my own.

I had so much fun making these bars. I got the chance to try two great KitchenAid products – their Easy Clean Juicer and the 11 cup Food Processor. I’ve been really curious about trying out a juicer and I’ve been dying for a bigger food processor, so this was the perfect recipe to try them out on.

Both products were awesome. The juicer is really fun to use and makes great juice. I kind of want to use it every day. Plus, I love that I can use the pulp from the juice to bake with. Nothing goes to waste and you get juice and tasty dessert bars all from the same fruit. Score!

So let me tell you how I made these beautiful babies.

First step – make the juice and get the pulp. This step might just be the most fun.

Collage of fruit for Raspberry Orange Shortbread Bars
Collage of different views of a juicer used for Raspberry Orange Shortbread Bars

How to Make The Best Citrus Cookie Bars

The juicer is very easy to use. It’s got a compartment on the left where the pulp collects and a pitcher on the right where the juice is collected. For fruits with thicker rinds, like the oranges, you need to cut the skin off first. Once the fruit is ready, you just turn the juicer on and pop in the fruit.

I’m not going to lie – it was fun to watch the juicer in action. I kind of wanted to keep adding fruit just so that I could watch it go. 🙂 It’d be really fun to do with kids, I think.

A juicer with ingredients for Raspberry Orange Shortbread Bars
Raspberry Orange juice and pulp left over from the juicer

I ended up with a delicious raspberry orange juice and plenty of pulp for the bars. Honestly, I could drink this raspberry orange juice on it’s own every day, but I actually decided to add it some sweet tea and make a fun drink for summer. The recipe for the bars makes just enough juice to make this Orange Ice Tea and it’s perfect. It also goes great with these bars.

Raspberry Orange juice in a glass with ice

Next up was putting the bars together.

This is where the food processor came in. Oh sweet, wonderful food processor. I’ve had the smaller 3.5 cup food processor for forever and while it’s wonderful for smaller jobs, I’ve been dying for the big one. I couldn’t wait to try it out. It comes with a several blades, including the one I was most exited to try – the dough blade! I busted that baby out for these bars. It made making the shortbread for the crust and the top of the bars extra easy. I’m totally in love.

Mini food processor with attachments
Steps of making shortbread crust in a food processor

To make the shortbread, you just add all the ingredients into the food processor and pulse until it all comes together. It’ll first start to get crumbly (pictured on the left) and then it’ll come together in a ball to form a dough (pictured on the right). Seriously, does making any kind of dough get any easier than that? This is going to make my life SO much easier!

For the crust of the bars, add about 3/4 of the dough to a 9 inch square cake pan and press it into an even layer. Baked it for about 10-15 minutes, or until lightly browned.

While the crust bakes, the pulp is mixed in with some sugar and flour. It will be a fairly thin mixture.

Once the crust is baked, the fruit mixture is spread into an even layer and then topped with the remaining dough, which is crumbled over the fruit.

Unbaked Raspberry Orange Shortbread Bars in a parchment-lined baking pan

Once the bars are baked and cooled, drizzle them with a little glaze and they are ready to go!

The hubs and I totally loved these bars. We didn’t even share with anyone else. They are so refreshing and fruity, we couldn’t part with them. They also aren’t super thick, so they make a great little treat – especially when paired with the fruity sweet tea. Despite there being a fair amount of orange pulp in the bars, the raspberry flavor reigns supreme with a hint of orange. So yummy!

I’m super pumped to try other kinds of juices in the Juicer too. I’m thinking fresh lime juice for margaritas would be really easy with this baby. 🙂

Raspberry Orange Shortbread Bars stacked together with scattered fruit around
Raspberry Orange Shortbread Bars stacked between squares of parchment paper

You might also like

Raspberry Dream Cake
Raspberry Goat Cheese Cheesecake
Raspberry Chocolate Layer Cake
Fluffy Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes
Raspberry Nutella Tart
Raspberry Paloma Cocktails

Print
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Raspberry Orange Shortbread Bars stacked
Recipe

Raspberry Orange Shortbread Bars

  • Author: Lindsay
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 45 minutes
  • Yield: 9-12 bars
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American

Description

These Raspberry Orange Shortbread Bars are drizzled with a delicious vanilla glaze! They’re sweet, fruity dessert bars that are perfect for summer! And to make them even more fun, they’re made with juice pulp!


Ingredients

CRUST 

  • 3/4 cup salted butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla

FILLING 

  • Pulp from 2 large oranges, peeled
  • Pulp from 6 oz raspberries
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp flour

GLAZE

  • 6 tbsp powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp milk
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a 9 inch square pan with parchment paper, leaving some sticking above the sides of the pan to lift the bars out later. You can also use aluminum foil.
3. Add butter, flour, sugar and vanilla to a food processor and pulse until it comes together and forms a ball.
4. Press 3/4 of the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan.
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned.
6. Remove from oven and set aside to cool for a few minutes.
7. In a small bowl, combine pulp from raspberries and oranges with sugars and flour.
8. Spread fruit mixture evenly over crust.
9. Crumble remaining 1/4 of dough over fruit mixture.
10. Bake bars for 18-20 minutes, then set aside to cool.
11. Once cooled, use parchment paper or aluminum foil to remove from pan and cut into bars.
12. To make the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract. Drizzle glaze over bars.

Notes

This recipe makes the assumption that the fruit for the filling has been juiced and only the pulp remains. Two oranges and 6 oz of raspberries are used the make raspberry orange juice and the remaining pulp is used in these bars. For instructions on juicing the fruit, refer to your juicer’s manual.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 bar
  • Calories: 282
  • Sugar: 28.9 g
  • Sodium: 93.5 mg
  • Fat: 12.1 g
  • Carbohydrates: 43.3 g
  • Protein: 2.8 g
  • Cholesterol: 30.6 mg

Filed Under:

Enjoy!

Lindsay
About Lindsay

I'm a wife and a mom to twin boys and a baby girl! And I've got a serious sweets addiction! Bring on the treats!

Scripture I’m Loving

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29