Vegan Fig Bars | Oil-free & Healthy

So these last couple of weeks have been crazy! Full of mini trips and vacations and getting into the swing of my summer schedule. I HAVE had time to create many recipes, but NO time to actually post them….This recipe I actually made a month ago and finally I am posting it. So get excited for 2 more recipes coming soon after this because I still haven’t posted them LOL.

This recipe totally brings me back to my childhood. I remember growing up and my mom would always pack fig newtons as a snack for me for school. I LOVED them!

This isn’t exactly the same as fig newtons, as I wanted to create more of a bar and less soft of a dough. But I assure you they taste amazing!

Whats even better is this recipe is so much healthier then the original fig newton recipe. Its oil-free, refined sugar-free, and vegan! 

You might think, wait I thought regular fig newtons were vegan? Unfortunately most refined sugars is refined through animal bone char….gross right? Well I promise this recipe isn’t!

Vegan Fig Bars | Oil-free & Healthy

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By: healthienut       Makes: 8 bars

 

Ingredients:

Dough:

Dry

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup oat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp flax seed meal
• Dash of sea salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Wet

• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp agave
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar

Fig Paste:

• 7 oz dried figs
• 1-2 tsp agave (depending on your sweet tooth)
• 1 tbsp water

Directions:

1. Whisk all dry ingredients together for dough mixture into a large bowl.
2. Combine all wet ingredients in small bowl.
3. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry. Combine with a wooden spoon. You will have to eventually combine with hands once it gets more doughy. You will be looking for a slightly sticky dough.
4. Shape the dough into a mound, tightly wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour (This helps the dough to work better when rolling it out).
5. While the dough is refrigerating, start making the fig paste. In a food processor, mix together all the ingredients for the fig paste until it sticks together. It will start to roll into a ball.
6. To roll out the dough, place it in the middle of two pieces of parchment paper. (Pictures above) Roll out the dough into an oval, about 1/2 inch thick. Remove the parchment paper.
7. Place the fig mixture (you will only use about 3/4 of it) in the middle of the oval (pictures above).
8. Fold over the sides of the dough and make sure the ends are secure, almost like a burrito. I cut off a bit of the dough so there wasn’t too much (pictures above). Cut off the messy ends.
9. Bake for 25-30 min. until golden brown. Set out for 10-15 min. to cool before cutting into squares.
10. Enjoy!

Notes:

*You will likely have fig mixture left over. I love using the fig paste on top of toast or to use in replace of jam, yum!

*Pictures on how to roll out the fig bars are up above!