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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 🙂
More Raspberry Desserts
- Raspberry Dream Cake
- Raspberry Goat Cheese Cheesecake
- Raspberry Chocolate Layer Cake
- Fluffy Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes
- Raspberry Nutella Tart
Raspberry Orange Shortbread Bars
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Ingredients
Crust
- 3/4 cup salted butter (room temperature)
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Filling
- Orange pulp (from 2 large peeled oranges)
- Raspberry pulp (from 6 oz raspberries)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
Glaze
- 6 tbsp powdered sugar
- 2 tsp milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉.
- 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.
- Add butter, flour, sugar and vanilla to a food processor and pulse until it comes together and forms a ball.
- Press 3/4 of the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned.
- Remove from oven and set aside to cool for a few minutes.
- In a small bowl, combine pulp from raspberries and oranges with sugars and flour.
- Spread fruit mixture evenly over crust.
- Crumble remaining 1/4 of dough over fruit mixture.
- Bake bars for 18-20 minutes, then set aside to cool.
- Once cooled, use parchment paper or aluminum foil to remove from pan and cut into bars.
- To make the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract. Drizzle glaze over bars.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
Enjoy!
Was a wonderful treat …I subbed almond flour
How can I make the fruit pulp if I don’t have a juicer?
Well the pulp is really just fruit without the juice. I’d just press the juice out of the raspberries and peel the oranges and press the juice out of those and then you should have pulp. I hope that helps!
If I dont have a juicer, could I blend the oranges and berries and perhaps squeeze the juice out of the pulp by Squeezing through a metal sieve or strainer with the back of a wooden or metal spoon. ? Do you think this Would work ?
Sounds like it might be ok.
I was searching for recipes to use my raspberry pulp from jam making and this looks delicious! Do you have an approximate measurement on the pulp other than coming from 6 oz of raspberry? Seeing as I already have my pulp, I have no idea how many ounces of raspberries it came from.
I’m sorry, I don’t. And it’s been quite a while since making these, so I don’t really remember.
How about making the bars with raspberry jam and no pulp since I am without a juicer??
You could definitely give it a try!
He look amazing however I don’t own a fancy juicer that separates the pulp. I’m ok doing the orange but need ideas about the raspberries. Do u include the seeds from the raspberries?
You could try mashing the raspberries and squeezing out the juice from those and the oranges. If you scrape out the pulp of the orange and use the raspberry pulp, I’d think it would work fine. You can leave the raspberry seeds out if you’d like to.
These look yummy–love the flavor combo. However I do not have a juicer (and don’t want to add any more gadgets to my overflowing cabinets!). How can I make these? Thanks!
You could try mashing the raspberries and squeezing out the juice from those and the oranges. If you scrape out the pulp of the orange and use the raspberry pulp, I’d think it would work fine.
Awesome recipes, they looks great 🙂
Wow, these look fantastic. Came to your site for ice cream and left with raspberry shortbread bars. Yum! Greetings from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia!
Oh wow, both of those products sound so fantastic! These bars do too, I love the raspberry and orange combo. So summery! 🙂
These bars (and your sweet tea) look incredible! Two summer recipe home runs! : )
Thanks Joan! 🙂
What a fun way to use the leftover pulp! I have never tried a juice before, always intimidated by all the parts, but this really looks quite easy!
I know, I had been too but it was so easy to use! And fun!
Love the raspberry orange combo! Great idea to use the pulp in the filling!
I like that with the juicer nothing goes to waste! These sound delish!
Oh my gosh, how fun is that juicer!! I actually like that they are thinner, YUM!
Wow. You have a very nice job. People send you the coolest stuff! Kitchen Aid rocks.
I’m a huge fan of raspberry bars, especially with the pulp and the reserved dough on top. These are on another level!