Fig and date bars/ Fruity snack

Whole wheat, fig & date bars

I am back from my trip to India and unpacking. Here are two travel shots from the lot! Pictures reminding…life is a struggle and one big burden!

This visit was short and I am feeling a little homesick and longing for more. The intention was to visit our parents and hang around for a few days. We were carrying out simple errands and eating a lot of goodies.  It is fascinating that in our parents mind we are still kids, so they give us thousand warnings and guide us with all sorts of instructions when going out. I literally wanted to scream, “For heavens sake, I manage a family too!”, but pasted a dumb smile to make them happy. I can totally understand that they are mostly bored and feel elated being useful and I felt a wee sense of pleasure being treated like a 10 year old.

Driving around did not take a back seat as my husband’s wanderlust was provoked. I travelled through lush Kerala and visited a lot of temples as that was my mothers main agenda. I had the opportunity to visit Ambalapuzha temple and taste the original Paal payasam which was almost close to my payasam here – Vishu and Paal payasam. The trip was so good that I didn’t have enough of it!

As I have to get back to blogging I made this recipe with dry figs to celebrate my return. This is a quick simple recipe I adapted from here. Of course, I found those display containers by ransacking old treasures.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried figs
• 1 cup boiling water
• 6-7 dates
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp flax powder
• 1/4 cup corn flour
• 1/4 cup honey/molasses
• 1 egg and some egg white to brush
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
• 2 tbsp poppy seeds

1. Soak dry figs in boiled water for 30 minutes.
2. Drain figs, remove stalks and add chopped dates. (Dates for extra sweetness!)
3. Crush the fruits into a smooth paste in a blender adding some water used for soaking.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F.
5. In a mixing bowl, whisk together egg, honey, vanilla extract and cinnamon until well blended.
6. Add the flours and flax powder to the wet ingredients and knead to a smooth ball.
7. If needed, sprinkle some figs soaked water to form the dough.
8. Lightly flour a surface and divide dough into 2 parts.
9. Roll out dough into a large sheet and trim the edges to get a rectangle shape.
10. Spread fig paste thinly in the center of the sheet leaving 1 centimeter margin on two opposite sides.
11. Fold the dough on to the fig paste starting from the side having a margin.
12. Roll the dough over on itself till the other end, checking that the seam is on the bottom.
13. Cut into even sized bars.
14. Repeat with the remaining dough.
15. Brush top with egg white and sprinkle poppy seeds.
16. Arrange bars on prepared baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or till the bars are lightly golden.

This yields about 12 bars, as I did not calculate ahead, I got only 11 bars. The bars tasted delicious and can be used as a school snack in addition to being an all time snack. It is almost like chappati rolls…only a bit crispy. The dough was not flaky which would ask for a lot of butter though. These fig bars are sturdy with a chewy center.

As they freeze well I have put some away for future use. I guess, we can try using other fruit fillings too for a change. Make some as your next travel snack!

Advertisement