Figarollo Bars (a.k.a Sophisticated Candy Bar )

Recipe development is one of my most favourite things to do, but this wasn’t always the case. I remember first starting out as a raw chef, I taught myself through books and relied on my traditional chef training to piece things together. I had to follow recipes to the last detail on my first attempts at a new dish. After that, I would taste, assess and make changes. But, as I really didn’t know the ingredients well, and how they reacted and responded, it was always a shot in the dark. I got it wrong more than I got it right, to be honest. But, I think that’s what has made me a good chef.

A lot of times we’re just scared of messing up, making mistakes and “failing”, so we don’t even try. In all those “failures” is where I learned the most and why I can now create a new recipe in my head or by simply putting pen to paper ( thumb to iPhone keyboard 🙂 ).

For this recipe, I called on my friend, The Flavor Bible. It’s such an amazing resource. When I first looked at this book, I was overwhelmed. It took me a long time to warm up to it, as I am really not a book person. When I started to see it as a resource you call on from time to time, I got more interested in using it. Now-a-days, when I get stuck on a recipe, or want to add some flare to it, I peel back the pages and let the inspiration flow!

I knew I wanted to use dried figs, but I wanted to do something really cool. I wanted the flavours to pop.

Upon looking up “Figs — dried” in the book, I found some ingredients that popped out at me.

• Pistachio
• Honey
• Oats
• Coconut
• Clove
• Coffee
• Walnuts
• Cinnamon
• Cheese
• Almonds
• Aniseed
• Maple
• Nutmeg
• Ginger
• Orange

As you can see, there are a lot of ingredients there to choose from, and that’s where things can get overwhelming. The trick is to pick a few that are rather neutral flavours and 1-3 more bold flavours. Knowing I wanted to create a shortbread type base and a very firm caramel/puree type paste, I landed on the following ingredients for the following reasons.

• Fig – Star of the show, sweet, fresh on top is beautiful
• Honey – Sweetener and neutral flavour and colour
• Almond – Neutral-ish flavour, crunch and fat
• Anise – Bold flavour and aroma
• Orange – Semi bold flavour and aroma, cleansing to the palate
• Oat – Neutral flavour, lightness, body to the base, texture
• Ginger – Bold flavour and aroma

The resulting dessert was exactly what I wanted it to be and what I envisioned in my head. Doesn’t always play out that way, but this time it did! The anise in the shortbread meets the orange and ginger beautifully, with the fig humming in the background all the while. The dark chocolate wraps up all the flavours and holds them perfectly, like only dark chocolate can.

Fig Ginger Paste

100g ( 3.5 oz ) dried, moist figs – stems removed
75g ( 2.5 oz ) moist medjool dates – stones removed
50g ( scant ¼ cup ) honey or maple syrup
20g ( 1 tbsp ) fresh ginger – grated
1 tsp tamari or pinch of sea salt
5 drops orange essential oil or 1 tbsp orange zest

Method

• In a high speed blender, using the tamper stick to keep things moving, blend on ingredients on medium speed.

• If you don’t have a tamper stick, you might want to use a food processor instead and turn it off every so often to keep the mix moving.

• We want this to be a thick paste, so don’t add water in order to make it blend.

• Transfer to a bowl while you make the almond oat shortbread.

Almond Oat Shortbread

100g ( 1 cup ) ground almonds
100g ( 1 cup ) oat flour

50g ( ½ cup ) activated almonds
50g ( full ½ cup ) rolled oats
50g ( scant ¼ cup ) honey
5-8 drops star anise essential oil
5-8 drops sweet orange essential oil

50g ( ¼ cup ) cacao butter, melted
30g ( 2 tbsp ) water, or as needed to bring together

Notes

• You can substitute orange essential oil for 1 tbsp orange zest.

• You can substitute star anise essential oil for 1 tsp almond extract.

• If you don’t want to use honey, you can use maple syrup, but the honey keeps the shortbread light in colour.

• Cacao butter can be subbed for coconut oil – this is simply a setting agent.

Method

• In a food processor, blend the first two ingredients just to combine.

• Add the second set of ingredients and process to slightly chop the almonds – don’t over process, we want crunch and they will break down in the next step too.

• Add the last set of ingredients and process to bring together.

• Line a baking tin with cling film and press in the shortbread. Use the back of a spoon to get it evenly flat.

• Set in the fridge 15 mins or the freezer 10 mins – just so it’s firm and set.

• Spread the fig paste on top using the back of a teaspoon or a small offset spatula.

• Set in the fridge 15 – 20 mins or in the freezer 10 mins to firm the paste slightly making it easier to cut it.

• Cut into your desired shape – I made them into small bars, but you can slice it as you wish.

• Place back in the fridge while you get ready to add the chocolate layer.

Assembling

What you’ll need —

200g ( 7 oz ) chocolate, I used cacao paste, but you can use your favourite chocolate
Roughly chopped activated almonds – for garnish
Fresh figs, sliced – for garnish

Method

• To coat these, you can either fully enrobe them in chocolate, dip the top, dip half or whatever you feel you’d like to play with.

• Whichever you choose, you can follow the enrobing instructions and adapt them based on how you’d like to proceed.