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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Fig bars (Modern Baker)


I was so excited to see that Nick Malgieri's Modern Baker came with a recipe for homemade fig newtons...they've always been a favorite of mine!

It took me forever to get around to making them, though, because I couldn't find the dried Calimyrna figs that NM calls for. Finally, Phyl said that he thought regular mission figs would work, so that's what I went with.

The dough is NM's biscotti regina (I made a 1/2 recipe). The dough is rolled into long ropes, pressed out into rectangles, and then folded around the fig filling. I only had 8 ounces of figs, so I made a 1/3 recipe of the filling with figs, water, apricot preserves, dark rum, cinnamon, and cloves.

My bars baked for a long time without ever getting golden; finally when they had just a hint of color, we pulled them out. I thought the filling was spot-on for fig newtons...delicious! The outside was more like shortbread than a traditional chewy fig newton; I'm not sure if that's because I baked them for so long? Regardless, hubby and I enjoyed these!

5 comments:

  1. Great close up of your fig bars! They look exactly like store-bought fig newtons!! These are next on my list to make. I always use the Sun-Maid Calimyrna figs in a bag. They are always moist, but its hard to resist popping them in my mouth before they end up in the recipe. Glad you enjoyed your fig newtons!!

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  2. These look perfect! You are one very good fig newton maker. I'm not sure if anyone likes fig newtons here or not, I don't recall ever buying them. I've seen them, but for some reason, they were not something we ever bought. Guess we will see...we love figs.

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  3. Ha! Now that I have a copy of the Modern Baker, I'm going to have to scroll through your blog to pick up tips on what to bake first! These look very nice - I made a similar recipe from the guys at Real Food Has Curves a while back, and it was to die for.. :)

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  4. The filling sounds amazing and I'll never argue with shortbread. I grew up eating fig bars; they transport me right back to childhood.

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  5. I haven't been able to find those figs either, but I've been wanting to try these.... glad to know the regular ones work... thanks for being the guinea pig! :)

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