Skip to main content
Dessert

Lemon or Orange Bars

A simple baked bar made with butter, sugar, flour, lemon or orange zest, eggs, and juice.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Lemon or Orange Bars

Time15-18 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Stir butter and ¼ cup sugar until combined.

  2. Add 1 cup flour.

  3. Press into the bottom of an ungreased pan.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden.

  2. Meanwhile, combine eggs, remaining sugar, 2 Tbsp flour, peel and juice, and the baking powder.

  3. Stir 2 minutes or until lightly brown around the edges and the center is set.

  4. Cool, then set into bars.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

758Calories
21 gProtein
18 gFat
127 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides structure to the base and thickens the topping as it bakes.
Eggs
Set when heated, giving the topping its firm, custard-like body.
Butter or margarine
Adds fat for a tender, crumbly base.
Sugar
Sweetens the bars and helps the base brown lightly.
Lemon or orange juice
Adds acidity and bright citrus flavor to the topping.
Baking powder
Lifts the topping slightly so it is less dense.

The step that matters

Stop the topping when the center is just set. Eggs firm as they heat, and overbaking past that point makes the topping rubbery and dry and can cause it to weep or crack. Pull it once the edges are lightly browned and the center no longer wobbles, then let it cool to finish setting.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, lemon, egg):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, lemon, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Orange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesLemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesOrange Cream Rice PuddingOrange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes