Who doesn’t love a good Fig Newton? I know I sure do… Of course, I can’t eat them anymore, and if you’re reading this, you probably can’t either. So what are we lovers of fig-filled baked goods to do if we can’t buy one of our favorite treats? We substitute our own, of course!
Now I’ve seen a few gluten-free versions of these cookies on other blogs, but it requires rolling out sticky gluten-free dough and pressing it into logs and flattening under a cookie sheet and five million other steps that I don’t have the patience for. So I’m going a simpler route: press a dough that’s like a cross between biscuit and cookie dough into a baking sheet and pre-bake the bars, then top with fig preserves and a crumble and bake until finished. Slice while warm and serve when cooled.
The dough base will be a bit tricky. Biscuits are typically handled gently, and chunks of cold fats lend to a fluffy texture as the fats melt and produce steam. Additionally, biscuits contain more liquids. Cookies on the other hand are usually beaten into submission using the creaming method, and the only moisture comes from lots of butter and a couple eggs, while most of the structure comes from a combination of flour and sugar. We’re going to combine the methods to produce a dough that should work well as a base for our bars, with enough structure to hold together, but still delicate enough to provide some contrast to our crumb topping.
Ingredients:
Base-
½ stick butter, chilled
¼ c. shortening, chilled
1 c. 1-to-1 gluten-free flour blend
½ c. sorghum flour
¼ c. coconut flour
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ c. buttermilk
2 eggs
Crumb topping-
1/3 c. gluten-free oats
1/3 c. 1-to-1 gluten-free flour blend
½ c. brown sugar
½ stick butter, softened
Filling-
1 ~11oz. jar fig preserves
¼ c. lemon juice
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375°. In food processor, combine all base ingredients except buttermilk and eggs. Pulse 10-12 times until ingredients appear grainy.
- Dump processed ingredients into large bowl (chilled). Add buttermilk and eggs. Mix on medium speed with stand or hand mixer approximately 20 seconds or until mixture appears uniform (chunks of fat should still be visible).
- Press dough into baking sheet lined with parchment paper using floured hands. Top with second sheet of parchment and another pan and press to flatten evenly (set pans on the floor and stand on them if enough pressure can’t be generated on the countertop). Bake sandwiched between parchment-lined pans at 375° approximately 20 minutes.
- While base bakes, prepare the crumble. Mix all ingredients together on low speed with mixer. Crumble mixture should be ready when everything holds together. Store crumble in refrigerator until ready to apply.
- In a small pot over low heat (2/10), stir together jar of fig preserves and lemon juice. Filling should just loosen up and thin a bit, not liquefy or bubble. Stir occasionally and turn off heat if filling gets too warm.
- When base finishes baking, remove from oven and remove top pan. Allow to cool several minutes before peeling off top layer of parchment.
- Spread fig filling over base. Remove crumble from refrigerator and top fig bars by rubbing crumble between hands over filling layer. Replace in oven and bake at 375° approximately 30 minutes, or until crumble topping browns.
- Remove bars from oven and slice while hot (pizza cutter recommended). Allow to cool before serving.
Oh, what’s this? Half my fig bars are already gone? How did that happen? Oh, right, I devoured them because they’re delicious and I can always make more. And now, so can you! And they don’t have to be fig bars. Any kind of fruit preserves could be used to make your filling, from blackberry jam to lingonberry preserves. Please leave your thoughts in a comment below, or get in touch with me directly by filling out the form on the contact page.
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