Oatmeal-Fig Bars

This cookie bar was in the latest issue of Food Network Magazine.  There were so many to choose from, it was hard to settle on just one to make.  I told my husband that he would have to pick, there were just way too many choices for me.

I think he picked this one because it does have the "healthy" factor since there is oatmeal, wheat flour and figs in it.  I'm pretty sure that they can't be considered health food though.

The bars are perfect for a breakfast on the run, or a snack.  Very satisfying with a yummy fig taste and soft chewy texture.

I froze mine and I just pull a couple out as needed.  I'm happy with all the bar recipes that were in the magazine and I can't wait to try more. 

Oatmeal-Fig Bars

Recipe from Food Network Magazine Sept 2015 page 68

Ingredients

• 2 sticks butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/2 cups rolled (Old Fashioned) oats
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups chopped dried figs
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Cooking Directions

1. Line a 9x13 inch pan with tin foil so it hangs over the edges, then oil the tin foil with either non-stick spray or use your hands or a napkin to spread oil over the surface.
2. Preheat the oven to 350º
3. In a food processor, add the softened butter and both sugars and pulse to combine.
4. Add the oats, both flours, baking powder and salt and pulse to combine.
5. Next add the figs, eggs and vanilla and pulse until clumps form.
6. Press the mixture into the prepared pan and then bake for about 35 minutes until the edges are set but the middle is soft.
7. Cool before cutting.

Quick Fig Preserves

Out of the three recipes I made with fresh figs last week, this one is my favorite.  This recipe only took about 10-15 minutes to make but is so very tasty. This will be one of the first recipes I turn to the next time I have access to fresh figs. They are quick preserves so you need to be ready to eat them rather quickly, but that won't be a problem.  This are so good you'll wish you had of doubled the recipe.

Thick, sweet, chunky preserves are the best and you can feel good about this recipe because it uses honey and sugar, not just a ton of regular sugar. Very rustic feel to this jam because of the nice big pieces of fig.  I love it, definitely a favorite.

Quick Fig Preserves
Recipe from honest cooking

Ingredients

• 15-20 small figs
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup honey

Cooking Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine all of the ingredients.
2. Cook over medium heat (add water if needed) and bring to a boil.
3. Let the mixture thicken over a constant boil, stirring often. After the preserves reach a thick consistency turn off the heat and let cool to room temperature.
4. Store in an airtight container for up to one week in the refrigerator.

Fig and Apple Ice Cream

So there I was, with a bunch of fresh figs to use.  What to do, what to do? I have a bread recipe that I love that is fig, applesauce and almonds and I really like the combination. I don't love nuts in my ice cream however, so that's why there aren't any almonds in this recipe.  This is a fantastic use for fresh figs.  I know I've mentioned before that fresh figs and dried figs have entirely different tastes.  Fresh figs are more of a mild flavor and the apple really becomes the prominent flavor in the ice cream.  The area's of plain vanilla ice cream just add to the overall flavor.

Fruity, creamy, slight hint of cinnamon but not overly sweet.  I'm a fan for sure.  Even though fresh figs aren't as easy to find as dried, I would definitely go out of my way to find some for this recipe, which does limit it to a seasonal recipe but that's OK with me.  Plus, fresh figs give this awesome pink color! Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Fig and Apple Ice Cream
Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker's Apple Pie Ice Cream

Apple

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 medium apple, peeled, cored and petite diced
• about 18-20 small fresh figs, stem removed and petite diced
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Custard

Ingredients

• 5 large egg yolks
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 3/4 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup whole milk (I used 1%)
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, add the butter and brown sugar.  Melt and combine together, then add the apples, figs and cinnamon.  Cook until the liquid is mostly absorbed. Stirring occasionally over medium low heat. When thick, remove from the heat and put into a bowl, cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until ready to use. 
2. Mix the egg yolks and sugar together in a small bowl, set aside. 
3. In a medium sized saucepan, add the cream, milk and salt.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat then lower the heat to a simmer and ladle some cream into the egg yolks and whisk together.  Add another ladle of cream into the egg yolks and whisk. 
4. Pour the egg yolk/cream mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the hot cream.  Cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon (or about 170º to 175º)
5. Put a fine mesh sieve over a medium sized bowl and pour the cream mixture through the sieve.
6. Put the bowl into an ice bath and let cool to room temperature.  When cool, cover and put into the refrigerator overnight. 
7. When ready to process into ice cream, pour the cream mixture into the ice cream maker and process based on the manufacturers instruction.  
8. Pull the apple and fig mixture out of the refrigerator and add the vanilla, stir. Set aside. 
9. When the ice cream has turned into a soft ice cream consistency, pour into a freezer proof container and slowly mix in the fig and apple mixture without mixing it in completely.  You want there to be swirls of flavor but you also want sections of just plain vanilla ice cream.  
10. Freeze until ready to serve, remove from the freezer about 5-10 minutes prior to serving so it can soften a little. 

Fig Filled Cookies

A friend of mine, Amanda, recently let me come over and pick all the ripe figs off her tree.  We're both fig lovers but honestly I don't know how you would keep up with having that many figs each year.  Sell them? Make preserves all the time? Fig Newtons? Hard to say but at least it got me experimenting in my kitchen this weekend.

I found three recipes that I thought I could turn into fig recipes.  This cookie was the first.  I had heard about my husbands grandmother cooking raisin filled cookies when he was little.  He's described them to me and I know that this recipe isn't it just based off of the dough alone.  But I wanted to give it a go anyway and switch it up from raisins to figs, fresh figs.  It's much easier to find recipes using dried figs than it is fresh so I had to use some creativity.

The resulting cookie is very tender, the cookie part sort of reminds me of a soft shortbread type flavor.  Not overly sweet but perfect to compliment the filling, which is sweet.  The filling doesn't taste like a fig newton type filling, simply because those are usually dried figs and there is a huge flavor difference when using fresh. I'd describe it as a mild flavor, kind of hard to pinpoint the exact fruit really.  Very sweet and I'm pretty sure the only way you'd know it was a fig is when you see the seeds.  So if you're not a fig lover you'd still like this cookie, and if you're a fresh fig lover you'll really like this cookie.

I didn't have a small round cookie cutter so I used the only one I had which was almost 3 1/2 inches in diameter.  Way too big to be honest.  These cookies spread out when cooked so they ended up being about 5 inches wide!  Be generous with the filling because the cookies spread so much you'll want a little bit of fruit in every bite.  One thing I did love about this recipe is how you don't have to push the seams together, they just sort of melt together when baking.  Such a time saver!

Overall I would make these again (but smaller next time).  Great use of fresh figs and a wonderful new recipe that you can fill with any of your favorite fruits.

Fig Filled Cookies

Recipe modified from Brown Eyed Baker

Dough

Ingredients

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup margarine, softened
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole milk (I used 1%)
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Filling

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 1/4 cups water, divided
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 25-30 fresh figs, stems removed, diced

Directions

1. Cream the sugar and margarine together in the bowl of your stand mixer on medium speed until it is light and fluffy. 
2. Add the salt and eggs and mix on low speed. 
3. Add the flour a cup at a time and the milk between flour additions. 
4. Add the baking powder, baking soda and vanilla extract.  Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes but an hour is better. 
5. While the dough refrigerates, begin the filling.  Add the sugar, cornstarch and 1/4 cup of the water in a small bowl and whisk together to form a runny paste. 
6. In a medium saucepan, add the figs and lemon juice.  Pour over the cornstarch mixture and stir. 
7. Cook over low heat until the mixture thickens to the desired consistency. You want it thick like preserves. Remove from the pan and place in a separate bowl and let cool to room temperature. 
8. Preheat the oven to 400º
9. When the dough is cool, remove 1/3 of it and place on a well floured work surface.  Add flour to the top of the dough and work it so it's not so sticky. 
10. Roll the dough to about 1/8 inch thick and cut out the rounds with a cookie cutter. 
11. Place the dough rounds on a parchment lined cookie sheet and space them apart from each other to allow for spreading. 
12. Fill each circle and top with and additional circle.  No need to press the seems together. 
13. Bake for 15 minutes until the tops are golden brown.  Let sit on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. 
14. Continue until all the dough has been used. Store in an airtight container. 

Fig Newtons

What did you all do last night? Oh, you wanna know what I did? I went to a Bon Jovi concert.  I don't care if that ages me I LOVE Bon Jovi!  I have to say that it was one of his best concerts so far.  It was a Tuesday night after all but he didn't have a cover band which was totally awesome.  It was 2 1/2 hours of nothing but Jon.

OK I'll stop now.

Now, on to a very important recipe.  Why so important you ask? Well if your kids love Fig Newtons as much as mine does then this might be life changing for you.

Not only are these little fig bars delicious they are something you can feel good about your kids eating.  Sometimes I have trouble finding figs but I found some dried figs at Trader Joe's and they worked perfectly.

I hope you get a chance to make these sometime soon.

Fig Newtons

Recipe from Tracey's Culinary Adventures via America's Test Kitchen Holiday Cookies

Ingredients

• 8 ounces dried Turkish or Calimyrna figs, stemmed and cut into quarters
• 2 cups apple juice
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used white wheat)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line an 8x8 inch pan with tin foil so that the edges hang out of the pan, so you can use them as handles when the Newton's are done. Spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray.
3. In a small saucepan add the figs, juice and salt. Cook over medium heat until the figs begin to break down until the mixture is soft and syrupy, stirring occasionally. This takes about 15-20 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool a little before adding them to a food processor with the lemon juice. Pulse several times until the mixture reaches a jam-like consistency.
4. In a small bowl add both flours and the salt. Set aside.
5. In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the butter and sugars and beat for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
6. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until blended.
7. Add the flour mixture and mix on low until mixed well.
8. Measure out 3/4 cup of the dough and set aside. Put the rest of the dough in the prepared pan and smooth out with your hands.
9. Bake about 20 minutes.
10. Meanwhile roll the leftover dough out and form into an 8x8 inch square. It will be easier to roll the dough between plastic wrap. Freeze the dough until firm.
11. When the crust has finished baking, spread the fig "jam" over the cooked crust and top with the frozen dough square.
12. Bake for another 25-30 minutes until the crust is golden brown.
13. Transfer the pan to a wire rack until cool, about 2 hours.
14. Use the tin foil "handles" to lift it from the pan and cut into squares.

Fig, Applesauce and Almond Bread

This is now the third time I've made this bread.  I love it.   I even managed to screw up the recipe the first time I made it and I still loved it.  If you like figs and almonds you gotta try this bread.  

There seem to be a lot of ingredients but they are totally worth it.  I'm always astonished when I make this because it never seems like there is enough flour.  I guess that's a good thing.  I love how moist and flavorful this is.  The figs are a must in here because they add sweetness, texture and appearance. 

 This recipe makes two loaves.  You should freeze one for later.

When you're chopping the figs before adding them to the recipe make sure to keep them sort of large.  They are so pretty when you cut into them inside the bread.

I just mean no finely diced figs.

You know what I mean. :)

If you've got an hour today you should totally make this.  You'll be so glad you did when you wake up and have breakfast already made and ready for you.  It is also wonderful to take on trips and snack on because it it's really good all on it's own.

Enjoy!

Fig, Applesauce and Almond Bread
Recipe found at My Recipes

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried figs
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1/3 cup plain, fat free yogurt (I used vanilla)
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups (6.75 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (2.5 ounces) whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup chopped almonds, toasted
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, combine the figs and boiling water and let sit for 30 minutes.
3. Coat two 8 inch loaf pans with cooking spray and dust with 1 Tbsp flour.
4. In a small bowl add the egg and egg whites and whisk. Add the applesauce, oil, yogurt and almond extract and stir well. Add the sugar and stir well.
5. Weigh or measure out both flours and place in a large bowl. Whisk in the remaining ingredients.
6. Drain the figs and chop them coarsely.
7. Add the figs and applesauce mixture into the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans. Sprinkle the tops with the streusel mixture and bake for 55 minutes. Let cool on wire racks for 15 minutes before removing the loafs from the pan. Let the loafs cool completely on wire racks before cutting.

Streusel

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 Tbsp chopped almonds
• 1 Tbsp chilled butter, cut into pieces
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

Cooking Directions

1. in a small bowl, mix all the ingredients together using a pastry cutter or a fork. Mix until the ingredients are crumbly. Set aside.

Old Fashioned Fig Bars

I have to be honest.  I'm a sucker for recipes that say they're "old fashioned", I just can't help myself.  I feel like I'm going to like it more if it tastes anything like my gramma used to make.  Most of the time it's true too.  I found some fresh figs at Trader Joes the other day and decided to give them a try.  I've never actually bought fresh figs before so this was a new one for me.  Turns out there are some mighty tasty options out there but the word "old fashioned" got me hooked on this one.

Look at all that beautiful color!

OK, take some of these beauties and dice them up.

Put them into a large pot with the lemon juice and sugar and cook over medium heat until they've reduced to about 2 cups.

Remove from the heat and let cool.

In a large bowl combine the sugar and butter and cream together. In another bowl add the other dry ingredients except the oats.

Add the dry ingredients to the sugar/butter mixture and mix to combine; now stir in the oats.
Take half the mixture and press it into a 9x13 inch pan.

Spread the fig mixture on top of the oat mixture.

Spread the other half of the oat mixture over the top and press down lightly.  Bake at 400 for about 20 - 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown. 

Let cool before cutting.  The top and bottom crust gives a wonderful texture to the sweet center.  I brought the rest of these to work with me and they were a big hit!

I found this recipe from JustaPinch

Fig Center
2 lb figs (3c) fully ripe - cut into pieces
2 Tbsp lemon juice concentrate
1/2 c sugar

Crust and top
3/4 c butter softened
1 c brown sugar, lightly packed
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c oats
1/4 c coconut (optional)


Combine the figs, lemon and sugar in a large pot and cook over medium heat until they've reduced to about 2 Cups. Take off the heat and let cool to room temperature.

Pre-heat the oven to 400.

Mix the butter and sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer.  In a separate bowl add the flour, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl combine the oats and coconut (if you're using it).

Slowly add the flour mix into the butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined.  Stir in the oats (and coconut) by hand.  Take half of this oat mixture and press it into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan.  Spread the fig mixture over the top and then top with the remaining oat mixture.  Press down slightly.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Cool completely before cutting.