Fit Family Fig Bars (v + gf)

Very delicious recipe, the credit of the original recipe goes to Chocolate Covered Katie. Thank goodness for Katie and her awesome chocolate-covered recipes!

Nutrition: (makes 32 bars) 72 calories, 2 g. fat, 8 g. sugar, 1.5 g. protein per bar

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans) rinsed and drained

2/3 cups dark brown sugar

¼ cup coconut oil

¼ cup ground flaxseed (the nutritious addition that provides the gluten-free structure of the cookie + useful in so many recipes)

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

¾ tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

Dash or two cinnamon

11 oz dried figs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Throw all the ingredients through cinnamon into a food processor and whir away for a minute or two. Take a rubber spatula and scrape down the sides of the processor bowl to make sure everything gets pureed, and whir again for another minute.

Prepare a 9 x 9” pan lined with wax paper (8 x 8” pan will do as well.) Scoop the cookie dough out of the food processor, scraping down the sides to get out as much as possible, and transfer it to a separate bowl.

Process the dried figs in the same food processor – you won’t need to wash it first as long as you scraped out the cookie dough thoroughly – and process the figs to a thick paste. It will most likely end up looking like a giant purple baseball. And yes, this is okay.

Take out the giant purple baseball and transfer it to the wax paper-lined pan. Spread it out into a thin, even layer of fig, and gently lift the wax paper up by the edges to lift out the layer of fig. Set aside.

Spray the pan with cooking spray and transfer half the cookie dough to the pan. Spread it evenly on the bottom. Carefully turn the layer of fig out onto the cookie dough and spread the remaining cookie dough on top.

Bake about 40-50 minutes (start with 40 and add more time as needed,) or until the edges are golden-brown and the center is no longer overly mushy. The bars will still be very soft, even after they are finished, so it may be difficult to tell if they are done. The best way to tell is to cut a square or two out and check to see if the interior of the cookie dough is solid or still too moist.

A taste-test is often in order at this point, and I’m always quite happy to do this step!

Allow the rest of the pan to cool about 20 minutes before cutting into it – also, unfortunately, a necessary step if you don’t want it to get all crumbly, but one I sometimes find myself not following…

These keep well at room temperature in a sealed container at least 3 days, but will last a good week or two if need be in the refrigerator, and likely a month or more (well-wrapped) in the freezer, if need be!

These are great hot, cold, room temperature, or under a dollop of ice cream for dessert. Fantastic in lunchboxes – there was one in mine today!