Any time I think of oranges two things come to mind: Florida and that knock knock joke that I always screwed up as a kid.
“Knock Knock!”
“Who’s there?”
“Banana.”
“Banana who?”
“Knock knock!” and then “Who’s there?” and then again with the “Banana” until you are dangerously close to getting your ten-year-old self punched by your fourteen-year-old brother…”Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?” (insert childish giggles here)
Only then, I did not possess the comedic timing I have today and would always lead with orange and not banana which totally effs the punchline. Oh, and I still ended up punched or pinched or some form of older sibling teasery.
Little sisters. Am I right?
So no, I don’t typically think of “Orange Bars”, or really any of the orange dessert varieties when I think of this sweet little piece of citrus. If anything I think “Lemon Bars! Yay!” which we all know are showstoppers but also do not include chocolate. It’s as if I had to create this recipe just so I could have a traditional lemony type bar but also satisfy my chocolatey dessert quota. If not, I’d just end up eating lemon bars and thinking about chocolate bars and how much I wanted one of those, too. And then I’d eat chocolate.
It’s a thing, I swear.
Dark Chocolate Salted Orange Bars
Originally this recipe was supposed to include blood oranges. Don’t even get me started with how hard mother nature screwed me on that.
“Oh, blood oranges aren’t in season, blah.”
At least there were plenty of boring, plain oranges to be squeezed.
Interesting fact: chocolate is always in season. Just a tidbit for you health nuts out there that think fruits and vegetables are everything.
Who’s laughing when you’re out of cucumbers and I’m still flush with chocolate?
Not me. I’m too busy enjoying this deep, dark salted chocolate with my oranges. In bar form, no less. Preeeetty certain that these oranges aren’t in season either…yet they are readily available?! 
Dark Chocolate Salted Orange Bars
A dark and bright twist on traditional keto lemon bars. Yep, we added orange!
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 c. Almond Flour
- 1/2 c. Truvia baking blend (or regular sugar if you're into that)
- 5 tbsp Butter, softened
- 5 oz Dark Chocolate, chopped - I used Low Carb Chocolate because, carbs.
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
Orange filling
- 1 c. Orange juice
- 4 egg yolks, 1 whole egg
- 1/2 c Swerve Confectioners Style Sugar ( or powdered sugar)
- Zest of one Orange
- 1 tsp Orange extract- if your oranges are as bland as mine were you'll need this
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat oven to 350° and prepare a square baking pan with nonstick spray. Combine ingredients and press into a baking dish. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden. Let cool and prepare orange filling.
Orange filling
- In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 whole egg and 4 egg yolks with sweetener. Mix well. Add in orange juice, zest, and extract, mix and pour over previously baked crust.
- Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Let cool then sprinkle with Confectioner’s Swerve.
- Top with chocolate-covered oranges and sea salt if you are feeling fancy.
Notes
Gluten Free, Low Carb
Beautiful bars Liz!! I’ll bet they tasted amazing! 🙂
Thank you Linda!!!! They were delish 😉
You stole my heart today. Orange, dark chocolate and sea salt!
It is one yummy combo!!! Glad you enjoyed it my friend!
I love the idea of combining the citrus with the sweet and salty! Yummmm….I would have liked the blood oranges better too….I just think think they are prettier.
And good point about chocolate always being in season….does low carb chocolate=diabetes chocolate?
Pics are amazing as usual. 🙂
I’m always looking for a new almond flour recipe so this is next on the list! For anyone looking for a sugar substitute that you can absolutely substitute one-for-one with no weird aftertaste etc., try Whey Low. They have granulated, powdered and light brown (aka Gold) and it’s expensive but here’s what they say about it on their Web site:
Tastes Exactly like Sugar…Guaranteed!
75% fewer Calories than sugar
70-80% lower Glycemic Index than sugar
Only 1 Effective Carb per Serving
I’ll have to check it out. I am currently enjoying the Swerve. It doesn’t seem to have that yucky aftertaste like others either! Thanks for the tip!
That’s totally what I think of when I think of orange. The knock knock joke. Actually I don’t like orange because it always screws up my rhymes when I’m trying to do my gansta rap and I can’t find anything to rhyme with it.
I would LOVE to hear your throw down some sweet rhymes. This is a new side of you Ben! Next recipe will be more “rap” friendly, promise.
I did do a post a while back about my rap opera I was in the works doing, but I love rap, I just can’t talk as fast as Eminem and the like, so I would just do it slowly by writing it instead of actually rapping it.
Come too think of it, I remember that! I’d rather read it that listen to it anyhow so don’t let that get you down Ben.
You definitely wouldn’t want to hear me rap. That would be a disaster.
I’ll take your word for it then. 😜
Yeah, it’s just better that way. 🙂
These look so yummy and I absolutely love the photography! 🙂 great post xx
Thanks Gigi!!! It was a fun shoot since I had the pleasure of eating all of the subjects 😉