Oat Fig Bars

I kinda went through a faze of being obsessed with Kellogg's Nutri Grain bars. I ate them for snack breakfast and supper. If I could, I would have 10 of them for dinner but I'd probably be sick so I didn't.

Then it occurred to me how healthy these bars actually were. I checked the sugar content and from that moment on I decided to invest in making my own 'healthy' ones.

At first, I tried to recreate them exactly however the strawberry jam in the middle didn't quite work since it was too sweet and just didn't quite match up to the Nutri Grain bars and would probably end up going back to them so I experimented with all sorts of fillings: peanut butter, homemade Nutella, raw cheese cake then I thought figs!.

Since there's already fig newtons then it must go so why not. And well here we are. I hope you like these oat bars with gooey fig filling...

Fig Oat Bars

Serves: 8 Bars

Ingredients

For the dough

• 88g oat flour

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp baking soda

• 30g smooth applesauce

• 30ml orange juice

• 100g soft dates

• 55g raisins, soaked in boiling water then drained

For the Fig Paste

• 175g squishy dried figs

• 90ml water

• 1tsp orange zest

• 1/2tsp lemon juice

• 1tbsp maple syrup

Method

- Combine all the dry together.

- Blitz the dates and raisins into a paste. Add the remaining wet ingredients.

- Slowly add the dry to the blender. Stop the blender once everything has come together to form a dough.

- Place it in a bowl and allow the dough to chill for about 45 minutes.

- Meanwhile, combine everything for the fig paste together in a small sauce pan and cook until the figs go soft and mushy.

- Blitz it in the blender until it forms a smooth-ish paste.

- Preheat a fan oven to 175 degrees celcius. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

- Roll out the dough into a long rectangular shape, about a few mm thick.

- Spread the the fig paste over the dough then take the longest side and roll it over itself, make sure to keep the roll tight.

- Shape the log then slice it into 8 equal bars. Close of the edges, pop them onto a baking sheet and bake fore 12-15 minutes or until golden.

- Remove the bars from the oven and allow them to cool. Store them in an air-tight container for up to 2 weeks.

Raw Fig Bars

Serves:

Ingredients

For the dough

• 250g ( soft, squishy ) dates, soaked in boiling water if they're too dry

• 112g almonds, lightly toasted

• 100g pecans

• 23g oats ( GF if needed )

• 1.4tsp se salt salt

• almond or oat flour, for rolling

For the filling

• ( same method above )

Method

- Blend all the dry ingredients together a food processor until a coarse powder.

- Add the dates. Blend until everything comes together into a dough.

- Roll the dough in a ball then coat it in the flour.

- Roll the dough with a cylindrical surface until flat and only a few mm thick. Make sure it looks look a long rectangle.

- Spread over the fig filling then roll the longest side over.

- Slice the roll into equal bars and chill!