Homemade Fig Bar Recipe

My husband has been jonesing for these nostalgic snacks ever since we decided to clean up our diet. So I started looking for a recipe for Fig Newtons that don't have any refined sugar or refined flour. And y'all, I could not find one! The closest I got was from weelicious.com, so I have adapted my recipe from hers, using honey instead of sugar.

I know that Fig Newtons are not the worst snacks out there. If you're going to buy packaged snacks, the ingredient list on these is actually comparatively short! But everything is better when it's homemade, and anything pre packaged has to be full of preservatives and other gunk, or it wouldn't have any sort of shelf life at all and then no one would want them.

And honestly, these homemade fig bars are SO EASY that it's totally worth it, even though it's not a massively huge difference health-wise. With just 7 ingredients (including water), these come together in jiffy, and are a great home baking project to do with your kids.

Homemade Fig Bar Recipe:

(fig puree)

1 C chopped figs

1-2 tsp honey (optional)

(cookie)

6 T butter, softened

1/2 C honey

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 C whole wheat flour

Cover chopped figs with boiling water and let sit while you mix up the cookie dough.

Cream together butter and honey, add egg and vanilla and mix it allll up.

Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour and mix together. Slowly add in the remaining half cup until you have a good cookie texture. You may not need quite all of it, or you may need to sprinkle in a little extra. Let your heart (and your sticky fingers) lead you!

Split the dough into two chunks and roll each into a rectangle about 12 in x 4 in. If possible, roll directly on parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. You'll thank me later.

Drain the figs but reserve the water. Puree figs with 1 T reserved water (more if needed). You can add 1-2 tsp of honey if you want (I think it's sweet enough on its own).

Spread half the fig puree on each doughy rectangle, leaving a small margin, and fold it over hot dog style. If you're using a silicon mat, this is when it comes in handy, because you can fold that over and then peel it off.

Crimp the edges to seal and then you can kinda tuck them under to hide the edges. If the flat little pieces are sticking out like a little pie crust, they'll bake way faster then the thick cookie part and possibly burn and that's bad news bears.

Slice each cookie log into 12 1-inch cookie bars (or 11 or 13 or however many you end up with). Separate the cookie bars apart a little bit so they have some room to breathe, and move them onto a baking sheet (if they're already on a mat or parchment you can just toss the whole thing onto the sheet).

Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes, or whatever your best judgment is. My oven runs hot so I tend to check things about 5 minutes early and then keep an eye on them until they look done.