Raisin Date And Fig Filling Use With 1 2 3 4 Bar Recipes

RAISIN, DATE AND FIG FILLING (USE WITH 1-2-3-4 BAR RECIPE)

Steps:

• Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened (about 5 minutes).
• Cool.

FIG SQUARES

Steps:

• For baking: 1 egg, beaten For dough, in a large mixing bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add 1/4 pound soft butter and work finely into flour. Cut cold butter into 1/2 pieces and add to bowl. Work in until butter is left pea-sized. Drizzle water over mixture and toss in. If dough is dry, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed. Dough should be loose in bowl, not in a ball. Turn out onto work surface and pull together. Divide into 2 equal portions, flatten each slightly, and wrap in plastic. Chill at least 1 hour before rolling. (Refrigerate up to 3 days, freeze up to 6 months.) For the fig filling, in a large saucepan, combine all but 1/3 of the grated zest and butter, and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until fruit is soft and liquid thickened. Transfer to a food processor and puree until smooth. Add butter and puree to blend. Add remaining zest and pulse in. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool. To assemble and bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 11 by 17-inch baking sheet (up to 12 x18) with parchment paper. Remove one of the wrapped pieces of dough from the refrigerator and unwrap. Roll dough on a floured surface into a rectangle to fit the bottom and sides of the baking sheet. Line the sheet with the dough. Place the baking sheet in the freezer while the second piece of dough is rolled out in the same way. Remove baking sheet from freezer and spread fig filling evenly over the surface of the dough. Top with the second sheet of dough and pinch the edges to seal. Trim the excess dough. Brush surface of dough with beaten egg. Prick through the top layer of dough with a fork evenly over the surface (about 1 1/2 apart.) Place baking sheet on bottom rack of oven. Bake 25 to35 minutes, until dough is a light-medium golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Cut into portions (squares are traditional.)

ITALIAN FIG COOKIES

Steps:

• Make filling:
• Pulse figs and raisins in a food processor until finely chopped, then stir together with remaining filling ingredients in a bowl. Chill, covered, at least 8 hours.
• Make dough:
• Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and blend with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Add eggs, milk, vanilla, and zest and stir with a fork until a soft dough forms. Halve dough and gather each half into a ball, then flatten each half into a rough 6- by 4-inch rectangle between sheets of plastic wrap. Chill until firm, at least 8 hours.
• Form cookies:
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Roll out 1 rectangle of dough (keep remaining dough chilled) into a 15- by 14-inch rectangle on a well-floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Trim to a 13- by 10-inch rectangle (chill trimmings), then cut into 4 (10- by 3 1/4-inch) strips. Arrange 1/3 cup filling in a 1-inch-wide log lengthwise down center of each strip, then fold sides of each strip up over filling to enclose it, pinching edges together to seal. Turn rolls seam-sides down and press gently to flatten seams. Cut logs crosswise with a floured knife into 1 1/2-inch-wide slices and arrange 1/2 inch apart on buttered large baking sheets. Make more cookies in same manner with remaining chilled dough, trimmings (reroll once), and filling.
• Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven until golden around edges, 16 to 20 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool until warm, about 10 minutes.
• Make icing while first batch of cookies bake:
• Whisk together confectioners sugar, vanilla, and enough orange juice to make a pourable icing.
• Brush icing on warm cookies and decorate with nonpareils (if using), then cool completely.
• Available at some specialty bakeware shops and Sweet Celebrations (800-328-6722).

FIG AND DATE BREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x4 inch baking pan.
• In a medium bowl, combine the dates, figs, butter and baking soda. Pour in the boiling water, stir well and let stand for 15 minutes.
• Beat the sugar, walnuts and eggs into the date mixture. Combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder and salt; stir into the date mixture just until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.
• Bake in preheated oven for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

RAISIN BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-by-15-inch rimmed baking sheet. Line bottom with parchment paper, and butter parchment; set sheet aside.
• Make filling: Pulse raisins and sugar in a food processor until almost pureed. Transfer to a saucepan. Whisk cornstarch into 1 cup cold water; whisk into raisin mixture. Stir in cider. Simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens and sugar has dissolved, about 6 minutes.Let cool completely.
• Make dough: Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Put shortening in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until smooth. Add brown sugar, and mix until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, and mix until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Mix in oats.
• Press half the dough into prepared baking sheet. Spread raisin filling evenly over top of dough. Crumble remaining dough on top of filling using your fingers, gently pressing down so that topping covers filling. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until top is golden brown, about 35 minutes. Let cool completely in sheet on a wire rack. Cut into 2-inchsquares. Bars can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 5 days.

CREAM CAKE WITH RAISIN OR FIG FILLING

Steps:

• There are no directions on this page but from another recipe in this book for "Cheap Cream Cake" I derive the following:.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees (this is a guess).
• Cream sugar and butter.
• Add eggs; beat well.
• Sift together flour and baking powder.
• Add milk and flour mixture to egg mixture and beat well.
• Bake in three layers until cake tests done. (This could mean 'cake leaves sides of pan', 'toothpick comes out clean', or the fingerprint test.) (The baking time below is from the back of a cake mix.).
• For the Fillings there are no instructions, just the above ingredients enclosed in brackets to show what gets mixed together.
• The original recipe calls for "sweet cream stirred thick" so let's say "whip heavy cream to soft peaks". Add sugar and any flavor your heart desires.
• For the raisin filling it says "To 2/3 cup sugar add enough water to boil up well".
• Stir in raisins.
• For the fig filling it says "stewed with 2/3 cup sugar and very little water".
• I think this means just enough water to dissolve that much sugar.
• I would cool the fruit syrup mixture before I added it to the cream mixture.
• Spread filling between layers of cake.

FIG FILLING FOR PASTRY

Steps:

• Remove stems from figs with scissors. Chop in food processor in batches.
• In a non-stick pan, combine chopped figs with orange zest, chocolate chips, whiskey, walnuts, maple syrup, and cinnamon. Heat over medium heat until chocolate melts, stirring frequently. Cool completely.

FIG FILLING

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients and cook over low heat, stirring often, until reduced to a thick paste, about 10 to 15 minutes.
• Spread filling on a baking sheet to cool.

FIG-FILLED COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Divide dough in half; cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours., In a saucepan, combine the first eight filling ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 4-6 minutes or until the fruit is tender and liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat; stir in pecans. Cool to room temperature., Roll out each portion of dough between two pieces of waxed paper into a 10x8-in. rectangle. Cut each into two 10x4-in. rectangles. Spread 1/2 cup filling down the center of each rectangle. Starting at a long side, fold dough over filling; fold other side over top. Pinch to seal seams and edges. Place seam side down on parchment-lined baking sheets., Bake at 375° for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cut each rectangle diagonally into 1-in. strips. Remove to wire racks to cool. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over cookies.