it's still fig season

School is starting.  The yellow school buses have come out of hibernation.  The leaves are starting to fall.  It is finally getting warm in SF.  All signs that summer is coming to an end.

This last weekend, as we said our goodbyes to summer in the annual Labor Day holiday rituals, my sweetie and I were asked to participate in a bake sale.  My first thought was, "Figs!  What can I do with figs?!"  Because I was lazy and didn't want to go to the store, I gathered together what I had.

In my refrigerator I found some butter, a grapefruit, and (luckily!!) some fig preserves (Last year, in an attempt to hold on to some of that late summer produce, I made a few jars of fig preserves - excellent with a little goat cheese on toast, speared along with some salty prosciutto, or just eaten with your fingers from the jar.  The syrup mixes into cocktails nicely, as well).

The result was a quick and easy treat that tastes like a summer afternoon.   Thankfully, we don't have to say goodbye just yet. 

You may have noticed by now that I have a thing for figs.  Don't worry, the season will soon be over and you won't hear about them from me for awhile.  But in the meantime, if there is just one more fig-based treat to eat, make it this one! 
 

Fig Crumble Bars

makes 16- 2" squares

2 c. all purpose flour

3/4 c. cold butter (1 1/2 sticks)

1/2 c. sugar

zest of half a grapefruit

1/2 t. salt

1 c. Fig Preserves*

Preheat your oven to 325F.

Mix together flour, sugar, salt and zest.

Dice butter and add to flour.

Either use a food processor and pulse the mixture until combined or crumble together with your hands, until the mixture no longer contains large pieces of butter and resembles coarse meal.

Grease or line a 9x9" baking pan with parchment.

Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the pan to make a 1/4" of firmly packed dough.

Spread preserves over the top of the crust.  It does not need to be super even.

Crumble the remaining dough mixture on top of the figs.

Bake at 325F for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown and delicious.

*To make fig preserves:  In a heavy bottomed 4 quart stock or sauce pan, combine 5 lbs quartered figs, water (to cover),  2c. sugar,  juice and zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange, and 1 split vanilla bean pod.  Cook until figs are tender and syrup is purple.  Gently spoon figs into sterilized jars.  Pour syrup to cover fruit, leaving a 1/8" headspace.  Cap jar, invert for 10 minutes, then return right-side up and let cool.  Store under refrigeration for best flavor and color retention.

it's fig season!

A handful of years ago, after probably too many drinks in a Seattle bar, I had a realization: "Damn!  It's fig season!" I exclaimed, much to the amusement of my friends.  Never-mind the snickers at my enthusiastic blurting, I was making a mental note to get to the Farmer's Market the next morning.

Each summer since, at first sight of figs in the grocery or Farmer's Market, I often think "Damn! It's fig season!" -  accompanied by a little giggle.  Then I promptly buy up a basket or three and take them home for snacking, baking, or experimenting.

Fig milkshakes, fig appetizers, fig preserves, fig cake, fig salads... it is all delicious.  I think my fascination with figs stems from that fact that they are only seasonally available.  We live in a time when apples, tomatoes, brussels sprouts, and green beans can be found in the grocery year-round;  It is hard to remember what season each item of produce is at it's peak.  Figs, however, have amazingly remained seasonal (and more local) in the grocery.  With the limited window of availability, I must maximize my time with them when summer rolls around. 

While in high school I ate Fig Newtons like crazy.  I justified them as breakfast (they are fruit and cereal based, after all!), snacked on them before track practice, and ate them with vanilla ice cream for dessert (Have you ever had an ice cream sandwich made of Newtons?  No?  Do it.  Trust me.).  During this time, I was also very interested in baking and trying to reverse engineer products in the marketplace; surely my start as a food scientist.  Fig Newtons were one of the items I created, quite successfully.  However, I haven't made them since.

But when I was at the grocery the other day and spotted those awesome first figs, I was instantly inspired to make figgy newtons.  If you are like me, though, you have been eating your figs with your granola in the morning and with blue cheese at happy hour, so you don't have many left.   Not to worry, this recipe has a combination of fresh (if you can spare!) and dried figs leftover from the winter's ration.

Figgy Newtons

makes approximately 30 cookies 

Dough:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 tsp. salt

1 whole egg 

1 egg white 

1/2 tsp. vanilla 

21/2 cups oat flour

Cream together butter and sugar and salt.  

Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix until blended. 

Add oat flour and mix until combined.  

Form dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap.  

Place in the refrigerator 2 hours, or until chilled.  

If you are impatient, like me, put it in the freezer for 30 minutes or so.

Filling:

1 cup dried figs, quartered and stems removed

1 cup water 

zest and juice of half a lemon

1 cup fresh figs, quartered and stems removed

In a small sauce pan, combine the dried figs and water.  

Let simmer until figs are soft and water is gone.  Add more water if needed to further soften the figs.

Add fresh figs, lemon juice and zest.

Puree in a blender or use an immersion blender if you have one.  

Let chill before using. 

Assembly:

Dust your work surface with flour.

(I found it helpful to work on a piece of parchment for easy transfer to a sheet pan for chilling).

Roll dough out into a 1/4" thick rectangle, at least 9" wide.

Cut rectangle into strips that are about 3 inches wide.

Place fig paste down the center of the dough strips. 

Chill dough. 

Bring sides of dough up around fig paste and seal at the seam, pinching together any cracks.

Chill dough. 

Flip the strips over, seam side down, and cut into cookies about 11/2 - 2 inches in length. 

Place on parchment-lined baking sheet. 

Bake at 350'F for about 15 minutes, or until lightly browned and doesn't give when touched.

Store airtight.

Tricks and Tips:

While they seem complicated, the figgy newtons are quite easy to make.

This dough is super soft.  It helps to work with lots of dusting flour and continually chilling the dough.

To help make these cookies easier on my tummy, I made the dough with all oat flour.  If you want to use wheat flour, substitute all purpose straight across.  Or use a combination of 1cup whole wheat flour, 11/2 cups all purpose flour.  I haven't tested this with wheat flour, so do so at your own risk.  The oat is really nutty and delicious, I promise! 

The filling is pretty thick and can be challenging to blend.  Don't be discouraged, though.  Just blend a bit, loosen the big pieces with a spoon and blend again.

However, if you find it really too tough to blend and you want to give up: don't!  Just add some more water until you are able to blend, then cook the paste until that water has evaporated and you have a thicker paste again.

I purposely made the filling without added sugar, but if you find you like your cookies a bit sweeter, add a couple of tablespoons of sugar, or to taste.

When cutting the strips into cookies, it helps to cut when the dough has just been chilled.

The cookies are best the next day, once they have been allowed to soften a bit.  But they are also really good straight out of the oven with a little vanilla ice cream!