Orange Bars... Or Sponges

I always wanted to have a go at lemon bars. From seeing many photos and videos of them, my curiosity grew. How did they taste? Did the crust really have to be baked before the lemon part? Would the crust burn since it had to be baked again? All my questions were answered in one day; the day I decided to make lemon bars. My sister advised me to use oranges instead of lemons, since my mother used lemons for tea and health drinks to ward off illness, it being flu season. Our fruit basket was overflowing with oranges anyway, so why not?

I used this recipe. Here's a spoiler statement: Ironic how the recipe is called "The Best Lemon Bars."

;)

I was doing fine while mixing up the crust. Then, as I pressed it into a 9" x 13" pan, I worried. Why?

1. The pan was too big
2. The crust batter was too little
3. I couldn't switch to a tinier pan because I'd already pressed the crust into it, AND the pan wasn't greased or lined. (Hey, it was part of the instructions.)

That wasn't the biggest problem, however. Eventually I'd managed to distribute the dough evenly, and I baked it for twenty minutes. It came out fabulously, and I left it on the stove while I set to making the lemon filling, or orange filling, rather.

A jug of orange juice sat in the fridge, but I decided to get all 'natural' and used orange juice freshly squeezed. When I'd finished making the lemon filling, I poured it over the crust, which was still hot. And squishy. Another B.I.G. mistake!! :(!! I couldn't take it back, though, so I poured the whole thing in and slid the pan into the oven. The orange filling, like the crust, didn't fill the top completely.  Arghhh!! Next time, I'm totally using a square pan. Or a better recipe. No offense, allrecipes.

Did you acknowledge the fact that I highlighted 'left it on the stove'? That was a B.I.G. mistake, 'cause the oven was still hot, which meant it was heating up the stove too, so the crust didn't really get to cool, which it should have been doing whilst I made the filling. Arghhh!!

The results? Shortbread with a yellow concoction bubbling on the top. It was good, but it was wrong. When they cooled, though, they looked like sponges. 'Twas cool.

I'm glad I didn't take any photos.

Thanks for reading!!

N