Orange Bars

Ta Da!!!! Our little year long project baby is here!!! Some of you might remember a few months back I mentioned a new site was in the works. Not long after I started CGC I wanted to make it over and give it a more legit look. Last March a friend of mine came in town to visit her sister, who is also a good friend of mine. Kristen has a very creative mind for design and marketing and over wine with the girls, I ran a couple ideas by her. By the end of dinner, I loved every suggestion and idea she gave me, that I asked if she would be interested in helping me create a new site and brand. Ever so fortunately for me, she agreed and that marked the day that this new site officially jumped off the ground! After Kristen and I came up with a strategy of what I wanted Carolina Girl Cooks to represent about the way I interpret food and travel in my own personal life, Kelly, our wonderful designer, started bringing life to our ideas. We started with the logo and then built the rest of the site around it.

In December of this past year, it was time to hand off all the files to Micah, our web developer. I speak for myself when I say this (Kristen and Kelly are pretty tech savvy chickies), but if I tried to do what Micah did for us as far as setting up the new site, I probably would have crashed the entire world wide web!

Leslie is a cutie pie friend that I met this past summer when I was asked to submit some photos to an agency under a very small timeframe. Leslie was such a trooper and met me up in Saluda, NC at a lovely little Inn that I randomly stumbled upon called The Orchard Inn. Within a day she had a cd full of pictures ready for me. You’ll find a couple of them on the about page and homepage of the site.

Last but not least, we were looking for a tagline to sum up the Carolina Girl Cooks brand. I kept wracking my brain trying to come up with something but I just wasn’t hitting the mark, which is where our copywriter Nikki came to the rescue. She gave us a couple rounds of lines to choose from and after mixing and matching some ideas, we found our meaning. To live life deliciously! I hope you all enjoy the new look! It’s been an absolute blast putting it together with this amazing team of creative people! Thank ya’ll so much for making EXACTLY what I hoped it would be!!

Now to the yummy stuff that I have missed posting these last few months!

My small group had an oyster roast after the first of the year and we all pitched in and brought sides, apps and desserts. I volunteered a dessert, because as you all well know, I love to bake but CANNOT keep baked goods in my house. I had a drawer full of oranges in the fridge that I needed to use up so I started searching for different desserts involving oranges. I landed on a recipe from Paula Deen. If we’re going, we may as well go all out and use 8 lbs of butter, right?! I couldn’t agree more!

These bars were super sweet because of the glaze I doused them with, so I would recommend just drizzling it over once they are plated.

Orange Bars
recipe from Paula Deen

Preheat oven to 325
1 orange, zested
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup orange juice
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, cold and cubed
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 1/4 cup flour, divided

Orange Glaze
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
2 Tbp orange zest

For the crust: Combine 2 cups of flour and 1/2 cup powdered sugar in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly. Press the mixture evenly into a 9×13 baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned.

For the Filling: Whisk together the sugar, eggs, and juice in a mixing bowl. Add in the remaining 1/4 cup of flour, baking powder and about 2 tablespoons of orange zest. Mix until combined.

When the crust is done browning, pour in the filling and return to the oven for another 25 minutes until it is set. Cool the bars completely before glazing and cutting.

For the Glaze: Add 4 cups of powdered sugar, 1/2 cup of orange juice and 2 tablespoons of zest together in a bowl and mix until combined. Pour over the entire pan of bars or drizzle over each individual bar after cutting.

**If you pour the entire bowl of glaze over the bars while they’re in the pan, make sure you return the pan back to the fridge to let the glaze set up before cutting.