Fig Bars

I'm a huge fan of Fig Newtons.  We didn't eat a whole lot of junk food growing up, but I have memories of eating store-bought Fig Newtons during special events like picnics and road trips mostly.  Sadly, I don't think I actually knew what a fig was until I was in high school...at least I never made the connection between figs and the filling until much later in life.


Actually, my obsession with figs started when I moved into Valley View - one of the volunteer houses on the Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas.  Outside my bedroom window was a beautiful tree. Eventually I noticed that the beautiful tree was hosting beautiful orbs, and those beautiful orbs were transforming into golden ripe deliciousness.

I had no idea what to do with figs and I'd never eaten a fresh one, but I was determined to make magic with the fruit outside my window. First stop: Fig Newtons. Remember that personal trait about being convinced that I can create anything I imagine? Well, this time it worked. I proudly shipped off a package of them to my Papa for approval.

From fig bars to fig butter, I've settled on a few standard ways of preserving the lot each year. This year I experimented with candied figs with great success. Over ice cream or soaked into a hot pound cake, a jar of translucent figs in tasty syrup is not a waste of space on my canning shelf.

Candied figs are a sweet ingredient to have on hand.

Candied figs are simple to make. Wash them, slice them and layer them in a crock-pot with sugar and spice. Add water or orange juice to keep them moist.  Cook them on low for an entire day...or until you like the color and consistency. Ladle the hot mixture into jars for canning or cool it and pack it up for the freezer. (I process mine in mason jars because I like looking at it on the shelf.)

Here's where my love of food meets my love of roller derby.
I make jam, therefore I am a  jammer - which is also the position I play.
And so sprung forth a line of punny jams including marmalade.

Thanks to a harvest of oranges at my aunt's house in California, my canning shelves are also stocked with several varieties of marmalade.  Eating it on toast isn't drastic enough to plow through a trunk full of oranges, so I'm making lists of other ways to use it. Asian dishes, frosting, cinnamon rolls... Yes, fig bars fit the bill.



So back to those newtons.  Here's a recipe I spliced together from recipes I found online.


DOUGH: 
Mix ingredients in a food processor.
Form into a ball, wrap in plastic and chill overnight.
2 scant cups of flour
1 stick of soft butter
1/2 c. sugar
1-2 T. honey
1/4 t. baking soda
pinch of salt
2 eggs (some recipes just use the yolks)
1 t. vanilla
1 t. of desired spice: cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.
1 T. of marmalade thinned with hot water (orange zest or orange juice works too)

FILLING:
I mix one half pint of fig butter with a half pint of candied figs and heat them gradually on the stove until its pretty thick.  A pureed mixture of figs, sugar and spice is fine as long as it has some jam-like thickness to it. I enjoy whole pieces of fig in my bars, so I take care to see that they aren't pulverized during the mixing. You can find fig jam or filling at the store if you don't have access to them locally.

I opted for wider fig bars so that the long side reveals the filling. 

ASSEMBLY:

A tight seal isn't necessary if your filling is nice and thick.

The dough may be sticky, so be generous with the flouring of surfaces and such. Pull off a small piece and place it on a well floured piece of waxed paper.  Flatten it into a rectangle about 1/4 of an inch thick and 4-6 inches wide.  Spoon a generous inch of filling down the center.  Brush away the excess flour. Pull up one side of the waxed paper up so that the dough folds down over the filling.  Then do the same for the other side.  Brush away extra flour again and seal the ends. At this point you can gently reform the long pastry roll into a more uniform shape if needed. If some of the filling leaks through thin spots in the dough, don't worry.

BAKING
Gently flip the roll onto a parchment-lined baking sheet so that any leaks are on the up-side. I baked rolls both way - with the double dough side up and down, and it didn't seem to matter a whole lot.  Space the rolls out generously on the pan so they don't touch when baking.  Put them into a 375 degree oven and bake for about 15 minutes or lightly browned. Cut them shortly after taking them out of the oven. These keep very well in an airtight container.

February 27, 2013