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Friday, August 11, 2006

Skinny Figgy Bars

I made an impulse buy the other day, one of those "rings" of dried figs. I've been missing fresh figs all summer, so when I saw these dried figs in the store, I bought them without thinking. But then they sat on my kitchen counter taunting me with memories of my yummy, but definitely not low-fat, Holiday Fig Bars. Since I've been trying to cut down on sugar and refined foods lately, making a batch of those bars would not be in my best interest.

But visions of fig bars persisted, as such cravings will when you have the primary ingredient sitting right on your kitchen counter. I finally broke down this afternoon, just in time for my afternoon pot of coffee (another substance I should probably give up but won't), and made fig bars. Actually, I decided to make fig bars healthy. I revamped my recipe so that the oil is gone, the refined flour is history, and the sugar is . . . well, the sugar is reduced. It's gotta have something in it besides figs, you know!

You will be amazed at how good these are. They're low in everything, except flavor.

Fig Bars

Skinny Figgy Bars
(click for printer-friendly version)

Filling:

8 ounces dried figs (one round package)
4 ounces pitted dates
2 tbsp. silvered or chopped almonds (optional)
2 drops anise extract (optional)
1 tbsp. agave nectar (or other liquid sweetener)
2 tbsp. water
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ginger

Snip off the figs' stems, and put the figs, dates, and almonds into the food processor. Grind to a coarse paste. Stir in the remaining filling ingredients and process until mixed. Set aside.

Crust:

1 cup regular or quick oats, ground in blender until fine
1 cup regular or quick oats, uncooked (not instant oatmeal)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces unsweetened apple sauce
3 tbsp. agave nectar (or other liquid sweetener)
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir in the wet ingredients, mixing well to a thick consistency. Press half the crust mixture into the bottom of an oiled, eight-inch square cake pan (use a wooden spoon or your hands). Spread the fig mixture evenly over the crust. Smooth the remaining crust mixture over the filling. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until lightly browned. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.

Icing (optional):

Mix powdered sugar (about 3 tbsp.) with a little water (Start with 1/2 tsp.) until the right consistency. Add vanilla or almond extract to taste (just drops). Drizzle over top of bars before cutting.

Makes 16 bars. Each bar (with almonds) contains: 117 Calories (kcal); 1 g Total Fat; (10% calories from fat); 2 g Protein; 26 g Carbohydrate; 0 mg Cholesterol; 67 mg Sodium; 4 g Fiber

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28 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do you think this recipe could be made gluten-free (and even higher in protein) by substituting the uncooked oats for quinoa flakes and the ground oats for blended/ground quinoa flakes or quinoa flour?

9:55 PM, August 11, 2006  
Blogger SusanV said...

I wish I knew, but I really don't have any experience with quinoa flakes so I don't know their baking properties. You could always give it a try and report back. Maybe if you look at a few recipes that use quinoa flakes, you can figure out the correct proportions to use.

11:12 PM, August 11, 2006  
Blogger Mindy T. said...

I absolutely love the look of these bars and will be trying them soon. Thanks, Susan!

http://mindycooks.blogspot.com

1:37 AM, August 12, 2006  
Blogger laura jesser said...

Ooh, those look so good. My aunt has a giant fig tree, and a food dehydrator, which means she had a plethora of dried figs right now. Maybe I'll have to get some from her.

I think it's wonderful that you can take an old favorite recipe and veganize it and make it healthier! I need to start experimenting with some of mine.

10:12 AM, August 12, 2006  
Blogger Alanna said...

oh my ... I've got it all except the dates and figs. On my way to the store ... NOW!

11:04 AM, August 12, 2006  
Blogger Chris said...

Looks awesome! I'm making my shoping list now...

12:06 PM, August 12, 2006  
Blogger Dori said...

This looks wonderful. Figs are one of my favs.

10:02 PM, August 12, 2006  
Blogger Melissa said...

These look awesome! I'm definitely going to have to pick up the stuff to make them.

11:05 PM, August 12, 2006  
Blogger Melody said...

Those look great!

9:03 AM, August 13, 2006  
Blogger Pure Zuke said...

Susanv... Are you coming out with a cookbook soon, because I swear, everything you make looks amazing!

1:50 PM, August 13, 2006  
Blogger funwithyourfood said...

I like how you can see the seeds of the fig in your pictures. When I was a kid I grew up on the east coast and I remember eating a lot of figs. I miss that
Great figgy bar :)

Teddy

7:06 PM, August 13, 2006  
Blogger mipmup said...

i am eliminating sugar in my diet as much as i can, but i seriously need to make these.

9:47 PM, August 13, 2006  
Blogger springsandwells said...

I'm so glad that you posted this recipe! It looks great! Figs are a very magical food indeed. I think I might make them for my book club. hmmm....

1:32 AM, August 16, 2006  
Blogger Kate said...

These look soo good. I can not wait to try them. Trying to get my family to eat healthy is hard so i have been looking for health-in-hiding foods. I also love how you have printer-friendly versions. Props.

2:50 PM, August 16, 2006  
Blogger nancy said...

I made them today - fantastic!! I added lemon to the confectioner's sugar for the frosting - perfect.

10:59 AM, August 27, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi! I just found this recipe for Skinny Figgy Bars online! It looks delicious and I can't wait to try making some. Quick question though- I don't have a blender but I do have a small mini food processor- would that work for the oats?
thanks!

11:59 PM, December 05, 2006  
Blogger SusanV said...

Anonymous, I think a small food processor would work. I wouldn't use a regular one because I think the oats would just spin around without getting chopped, but a mini-processor is probably small enough to work. Good luck!

10:06 AM, December 06, 2006  
Anonymous MissKriss said...

Hallo :) I finally made this recipe and am *very* happy with it :). I replaced the dates with apricots and left out the almonds and the icing - supersweet and very yummy, even though I made the bars too thin. Thanks for a great recipe. K,

11:28 PM, January 30, 2007  
Blogger San Luis said...

Ah, my Fig Newton fix … fixed! These are just gorgeous and so delicious. They were just a smidge too sweet for me. Next time, perhaps I'll skip the sweetener in the filling and ease up on the icing? I'm not skipping the icing, though -- it really makes them look as mouthwatering as they taste!

A few thoughts:

1. If you use figs in a pouch, versus a round package, you'll likely be looking for Calimyrna figs, not the dark Mission ones.

2. The filling can be really thick and could be taxing on a small or less powerful food processor.

3. Don't be put off if the crust and filling are hard to spread in the cake pan. It'll come out just fine!

Really, I'll be surprised if I can go a week without making another batch. Awesome!

Sara

5:03 PM, February 23, 2007  
Blogger mr_mendleson said...

Very nice! I made them last night and am having one with coffee as I type. We’re almost through our third week of eating to live, so I left off the icing for now.

The only change I made was using a seven grain oat cereal for the cup ground oats, because I only had one cup of regular oats. Okay I had two changes, the second “change” taught me not to measure the two drops of anise extract over the mixing bowl. Some bites taste a tad more like licorice bars.

Thank you very much. I’m off to look at the rest of your recipes!
christopher

6:26 AM, March 30, 2007  
Anonymous veggiesushi said...

These were the best desserty item I have ever made. I used prunes instead of dates and they were excellent. Yummy, Yummy, Yummy!!!

4:01 PM, July 21, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i'm making these this afternoon - i can't wait! one question though: can i freeze them?

7:40 AM, September 03, 2007  
Blogger SusanV said...

I haven't tried freezing them, but I really don't see why you couldn't. Please let me know how they come out, though.

7:44 AM, September 03, 2007  
Blogger Refuse-Resist said...

This post has been removed by the author.

5:00 PM, October 15, 2007  
Anonymous Pia said...

Hi,
I love reading your food blog and have been following it for a while. Tried your skinny fig bars for the first time. The filling came out delicious and I'm going to make that again. But the cookie part with the oatmeal came out tasting exactly like cardboard (texture and flavor) - sorry :-( I followed your recipe exactly. So don't know what happened. Nevertheless, the recipe for the filling is a keeper. I will just tinker with the crust and see what to do about that.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful blog with us all.

5:43 PM, December 18, 2007  
Blogger TheWay said...

I made these for my families Christmas gathering and they turned out great! Only change I made was substituting pure maple syrup for the agave. Thanks for the great recipes!

1:00 AM, December 31, 2007  
Anonymous Mindy said...

I made these earlier today and I must say these are AWESOME! Even my carnivorous, chocolate loving husband said that I shouldn't be embarrassed to take these to any function. He noted that I shouldn't mention things like "vegan" or "fat-free"...at least until after they are eaten.

7:31 PM, January 10, 2008  
Blogger -W- said...

If the crust was "carboard" flavored, it's probably the kind of oats you used. Some brands are just nasty. I recommend the kind you get at Trader Joe's (Country Choice Organic brand) or Bob's Red Mill.

8:16 PM, January 19, 2008  

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