Easy Fig Bar Cookies

These fig cookie bars are so easy to make and so delicious!  If you like fig newton cookies, you're going to love these simple bar cookies with a tender, buttery crumb and rich fig filling.

'm a huge fan of bar cookies.  They just have a different texture than individual cookies.   Not only are they easy and quick to make, but the texture is absolutely perfect--soft without being cakey, tender but able to hold their shape.  You can do variations on this recipe with any kind of jam, and they're all absolutely delicious. This recipe doesn't use fresh figs, but I did make the fig jam with the figs from our tree and our neighbor's fig trees, and making your own jam if you have a glut of fresh fruit is a great way to preserve them for later in the year.  Commercially made fig jam or fig butter from the grocery store works beautifully in this buttery cookie recipe, too.

Fig Bar Cookie Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts, but use whatever nuts you prefer)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• fig jam to cover the cookies (about scant 1 cup)

How to Make Fig Bars:

Preheat your conventional oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or 325 degrees if you're using a convection oven.

First, prepare the pastry dough using an electric mixer.  This dough recipe makes a buttery shortbread-like pastry (though they're not actually shortbread cookies, since it contains eggs).  Cream butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Add the egg to the sugar mixture and beat well.  Add the salt, vanilla, flour, and chopped nuts to the creamed mixture and mix until the dough forms.  Since the nuts are so finely chopped I just add them in with the flour.  There's no worry about the beater on my Kitchenaid mixer breaking the nuts into smaller parts like when working with whole nuts.  And whenever there's a shortcut I can take, I typically do. 

Divide dough into two parts by measuring out two cups of the dough and setting it aside.  Press the remaining dough into an 8x8 square pan.  I have to mention here that I absolutely love using my silicone baking pan to make these kinds of bar cookies.  It's incredibly nonstick, so you don't have to bother with preparing the pan with butter and flour, or lining the pan with parchment paper.  The cookies just pop out when they're baked and cool, and then it's incredibly easy to cut them into squares on a cutting board.  If you're using a traditional pan, I'd definitely recommend cutting a sheet of parchment paper to cover the bottom of your baking dish to help with removal of the cookies after baking.

Spread the fig jam over the bottom layer of cookie dough, then drop the remaining portion of dough in small chunks over the top of the jam.  You'll see little peeks of the jam through the places where the bits of cookie dough don't completely cover the lower layers.  This creates the crumbly look on the tops of the cookies once they're baked.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes.  The cookies will be lightly golden brown on the top.

Let the bar cookies cool completely, pop out of your silicone baking pan, and use a sharp knife to cut into small squares.  These delicious cookies are deceptively rich, so I always cut them into pretty small squares.

This fig cookie recipe is the perfect addition to any cookie platter at Christmastime and is delicious all year round.  The buttery flavor and soft bite of the cookie paired with the complex flavors from the fig filling make this an exceptional cookie.  That it's so incredibly easy to make is just icing on the cake.  

Store in an airtight container or covered with plastic wrap on a cookie tray during holiday seasons.

Printable Fig Bar Cookie Recipe

Want a one page, printable, PDF version of this easy fig bar recipe?  Just click on the image below to download the PDF to your device or print directly.

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