Fabulous Florida Orange Bar Cookies

This is from a fellow Central Floridian, Robin Wilson, a finalist in the Pillsbury Bake-Off for her recipe of the best orange bar "brownies" (this side of the Mason-Dixon line anyway). She shared the recipe with Paula Deen at her Savannah restaurant and for some reason it's more attached to Paula than the creator (no fault of Paula by the way!). We at Mannix Vanilla have taken the liberty to do it our way and (of course) believe it makes an incredible recipe even better...if that's possible. So hats off again to our neighbor, Robin Wilson, who gave us the go-ahead to keep spreading the good word about her delicious concoction!

Ingredients

Bar:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar*
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure Mannix Vanilla-Infused Orange Extract
Grated orange zest from a 1/2 large, Florida orange

Glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
Juice from one large Florida orange
1 teaspoon Mannix Vanilla-Infused Orange Extract
Grated zest from a 1/2 large, Florida orange

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bar Cookies: Grease a 13x9x2-in pan and set aside. In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar and salt. Add butter, eggs, Mannix Vanilla-Infused Orange Extract and orange zest. Beat with an electric mixer until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until light golden brown and set. Remove from oven and pierce top of entire bar cookie with a fork.

Glaze: Combine all ingredients in a bowl, stirring until smooth. Pour glaze over bar cookie and let cool. Cut into squares.

*for extra flavor you could use Mannix Vanilla Sugar

To see more from Robin Wilson visit: http://simplysouthernbaking.com/