Homemade Fig Newton Bars - Guest Post from Kudos Kitchen By Renee @kudoskitchen

I hope you’ll forgive me for not being super active on the blog this week! As of last Friday, BigBear and I are in Hawaii to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary! I’ll be posting photos on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram this week using the hashtag #BigBearGoesToHawaii so be sure to follow along!

But so that you don’t get lonely while we’re away, I’ve got a wonderful guest blogger today to share a recipe for Homemade Fig Newton Bars with you! I’ve been a fan of Renee’s for a while now and I always love her recipes and her custom painted glasses! She’s the amazing artist that painted the cover of “Gifted, A Donovan Circus Novel” on a glass for my high school BFF, Liz, back when Liz published her first novel and Renee painted my “Big Bear’s Wife” Wine glass and tile!! Everything she does is just beautiful!

Thank you so much Renee for guest posting for me!!

So without wasting anymore time, I’ll turn this post over to Renee!!

I’d first like to take a moment to thank Angie for inviting me to guest post here on Big Bear’s Wife. This is the first time I’ve guest posted anywhere, so for me, it’s a pretty big deal!

The recipe I’ve chosen to share with you today is one for fig newtons. I thought it would be something unusual, and not seen very often on the food blogger circuit.

These tender cookies are wonderfully moist and chewy and not at all difficult to make. Just remember to plan a little ahead because you need to soak and mash the figs, plus make and chill your cookie dough for at least an hour before rolling, filling and baking the bars.

Step by Step Photos for the Filling

I’ve chosen to make my fig newtons with a healthier alternative to granulated sugar by using coconut palm sugar. If you choose not to use the coconut palm sugar, that’s totally OK as I know not everyone stocks coconut palm sugar as a regular pantry item. If you do swap it out, use the granulated sugar in the same amounts as the coconut sugar. I’m 100% positive your results will be just as delicious. — Renee

Step by Step for the Cookies

Homemade Fig Newton Bars (Click To Print)
Guest Post from Kudos Kitchen By Renee
@kudoskitchen February 6, 2014

Yield: 18-20 bars

Prep Time: 2 hours (including soak , chill and assemble time)

Bake Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

For the filling:

1 package (8 ounces) dried figs

1 cup water

1 cup coconut palm sugar (or granulated sugar)

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the dough:

1 cup butter, softened (I use salted butter, but use what you have)

1 cup coconut palm sugar (or granulated sugar)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 tablespoon half-and-half

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

Directions

Chop the figs, add them into a medium saucepan and soak them in water for 1 hour.

Once soaked, add the sugar and vanilla. Cook over medium/high heat until the figs are soft and able to be mashed easily (approximately 15 minutes). Cool.

In a stand mixer (or large bowl with a hand mixer), cream together the butter, sugar, eggs, half-and-half, and vanilla.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour salt and baking powder.

Add the dry ingredients, in thirds, into the butter mixture and blend until all the ingredients are well incorporated (making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go).

Divide the dough ball in half and flatted each ball into a disc. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Working with one chilled disc at a time, and on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into roughly a 12” x 15” rectangle, and approximately 1/8” thickness.

Using a pizza cutter and a straight edge, trim the dough so it has nice straight edges.

Use your rolling pin (roll it lightly onto the pin and lightly off the pin) to transfer the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

Spread the cooled fig filling evenly over the entire surface of the dough.

*Note – an offset spatula works best for this application.

Roll out the second disc of dough just as you did the first (in the same approximate size), only this time don’t trim the dough until it’s been transferred atop the fig filling. Once in place, press the top layer of dough lightly onto the fig filling. Once done, trim the dough to form nice straight edges of all three of the layers (dough, filling, dough).

Bake in a preheated oven for 40 minutes.

Remove to a wire rack and cool completely before cutting into bars.

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