Fig bars

I've had this recipe in my stack for a while now, and have been meaning to give it a try ever since I picked up a bag of dried figs from the Mid-East Food Market. (Quick aside: if you sign up to receive recipies from Martha Stewart she'll soon become your BFF by e-mail and swamp your inbox with all sorts of mail about food, crafting and organizing tips. It's a friendly reminder, several times a day, of how imperfect you are! Good times!)

I wanted to make it partially for my dad, who is a fan of figs. I thought they would turn out to be kind of like date squares, though I not really sure why. There are no oats in the recipe, and while dates and figs are somewhat similar, the bars really bear no resemblance to each other.

But they did give me a good excuse to pull out my new-to-me food processor (thanks Mrs. H!).

Here's how they start....

Pulse the butter, flour and sugar together for the crust.

Then pat the mixture down in the pan. Don't worry, the fingerprints will disappear once the filling goes in.

Then add the dried figs back to the processor -- no need to clean in between!

Once the fruit is combined with the juice and lemons, you add it to the filling. Kinda looks like olive tapenade, doesn't it?

Then the remaining mixture goes on top. I ended up with some pretty big clumps here, as my topping didn't seem to want to hold together.

Here's what it looked like after baking.

And these are the finished products! Overall rating is okay, but not stellar. I do have to say that the squares lasted quite a while, and cut well too, so bonus points for that I suppose. If you have some dried figs lying around, give these a try, but I wouldn't suggest you run out and buy some just for this recipe. Now to find something else to do with the remaining figs in my pantry!

Fig Crumble Bars (from Everyday Food)

Ingredients
Makes 20

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for pan
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
8 ounces dried Calimyrna figs (about 1 1/2 cups), stems removed
3/4 cup apple juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan; line bottom and two sides with a strip of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang. Butter paper; set pan aside.

2.In a food processor, pulse together 2 cups flour and 1 cup sugar. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer half of mixture to prepared pan; with lightly floured fingers, press firmly into bottom. Set aside. Shape remaining mixture into large, moist clumps; transfer topping to a bowl, and set aside. Wipe food processor bowl clean.

3.Make filling: In food processor, blend figs, apple juice, lemon zest, and remaining 2 tablespoons each flour and sugar until a thick paste forms.

4.Using a small offset spatula or table knife, spread filling over crust. Sprinkle with topping. Bake until topping is golden brown, 60 to 65 minutes.

5.Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cool completely. Using paper overhang, lift crumble from pan, and transfer to a cutting board; cut into 20 bars. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.