Fig Baileys

I discovered a fig tree about two weeks to late last year and promised that I would not let that happen again this year. So, I basically stalked my tree for a few weeks. Then, all of a sudden I had more figs than I knew what to do with! I love figs but, had so many that I needed more creative ways to eat them!

We have all had Fig Newtons and they are pretty good, but they aren't gluten free and they are not savory melt in your mouth delicious. That is why I decided to 'fig'ure out (haha) how to make them bigger and better. Introducing Fig Baileys! 

Ingredients:

Fig Jam Ingredients:

6-8 fresh figs cut into quarters

1 tbs fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla 

Cookie Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose gluten free flour

3/4 cup of almond meal

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

12 tbs of room temperature butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tbs fresh orange juice

2 eggs

4 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

Start by washing your figs then cutting them into quarters. They look so pretty when you cut them open!

In a medium sized sauce pan add figs, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla and bring to a boil while stirring as needed.

Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, make sure you continue to stir.

While the mixture simmers continue to stir and use a fork to smash the figs. 

All the yummy seeds will come out and it will begin to take on a jam consistency. 

Remove  the jam from  the heat and let cool completely.

Now it is time to start on the cookie part! While the figs are cooling off get your ingredients together and pre-heat your oven to 350 and line a large baking pan with buttered foil or parchment paper. You want it to be the size of a cookie pan, usually around 9X13.

Ok, now in a larger bowl, beat the 12 tbs of butter with 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar until it is fluffy. I just my kitchen-aid mixer, just because it makes life so much easier.

Look at that action shot!

Add your 1 tbs  of orange juice and continue to mix.

 Add two eggs to the mixture and continue to beat. After the dough is mixed, add the 4 tsps of vanilla.

When it is all mixed together it should look fluffy and delicious like this!

Now, in a medium bowl mix together 3/4 cup of almond meal and 1 1/2 cups of All Purpose Gluten Free Flour, baking powder and salt.

Make sure to really mix it up before you add it to the butter and sugar mixture.

Slowly mix in all of the flour mixture until it is smooth and sticky.

If you have a large mixer, I recommend using it. There are some recipes that a small hand-mixer or muscle power does just fine. However, you want this to be nice a smooth, to save time, you will want to use something with horsepower! 

Next, butter two large baking pan sized pieces of foil and place 1 1/2 cups of the dough between the two sheets and flatten into a square.

 After you flatten it between the tow pieces, place it in the freezer for at least 20-30 minutes

Flatten the remaining dough on the prepared baking pan and bake for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown. 

Keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't cook too much. It will be going back into the oven soon! 

Let the bottom layer cool for a few minutes then spread the fig jam evenly on top. It might seem like you don't have enough, I was pretty bummed that there wasn't more and almost made more figs, but I didn't and it was actually perfect!

 Take the top layer out of the freezer and peel the foil off and place it on top of the fig jam. This can be kinda tricky. I recommend getting the foil stated all around the edges first and then using the foil that still sticks to the dough as a handle.  

You can then put it over the figs and peel the rest off without it breaking.

 Put the pan back into the oven and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until the top layer is golden brown. 

After it has cooled, go ahead and cut it into little squares. I first trimmed around the edges and then the 'scraps' were a tasty snack for everyone to munch on.

Thats it! Enjoy them because they will go fast!  

They are super moist and were good for the 4 days they lasted after I made them. To store, just toss them into a tupperware container and try to resist the urge to eat them all immediately. 

I was so proud of myself for coming up with this recipe that I made everyone I saw try these. I brought them to work in mini tupperware containers just to make people take a little taste! Everyone absolutely loved them, did not believe that they were gluten free!

You must try this recipe! These would be great for a bake sale, holiday cookie exchange, or just a quick cure to a sugar craving. Here it is all in one place!

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