Must Make Coconut Fig Squares
These delicious Coconut Fig Squares are a lot like date squares, only made with fresh green figs. Add these vegan bars to your list of must-make dessert recipes during fig season!
Let me introduce you to my newest, most favorite friends: Coconut Fig Squares. They're like date squares only new and improved and even better.
Here's something you might not know about me … if you put a date square in front of me it'll get snatched up in about three nanoseconds flat. Yes, I'm secretly 80 years old.
I know exactly where my favorite vendor is at the farmers' market, and I don't care if they sell other baked goods, to me they're known as The Date Square Vendor.
If there's a date square at a coffee shop, it's mine. Want to win me over? Make me a date square.
Or better yet, make me a batch of fig squares. They're almost exactly the same only with a hint of coconut and figs instead of dates. And figs (fresh figs!) make these bars totally hipster approved.
Remember back when I told you that a girlfriend of mine (hi, Shantel!) asked me if I wanted some figs and I ended up with a giant bucket full? Well, this is the third, and final for this year, fig recipe I'll be sharing with you. The rest I'm hoarding in my freezer for smoothies.
Or for making more fig squares when the dead of winter hits and I need a little something to see me through.
Or for making more fig squares tomorrow, and every other day until my freezer is empty. Insert happy face for fig squares and sad face for an empty freezer.
If you make these Coconut Fig Squares make sure you snap a pic and tag #theendlessmeal on Instagram so I can like and comment on your photos. I love seeing TEM recipes you create!
Coconut Fig Squares
If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!
Ingredients
The Fig Jam
- 1 ½ lbs. very ripe green figs, about 9
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
The Squares
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, sub gluten-free, if needed
- 1 ½ cups rolled oats
- ½ cup shredded coconut
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¾ cup coconut oil, melted
Instructions
- Cut the stem off the figs and quarter them. Add them to a medium-sized pot over high heat. Add the brown sugar and lemon juice and bring the pot to a boil. Be careful as it will splatter. Reduce the heat to medium and let the jam simmer for 10 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally and mashing the figs with your spoon as they soften. Let the jam simmer for 5 minutes more without stirring. Spoon off the liquid that comes to the top of the jam. Use a potato masher to mash the jam until it is somewhat smooth.1 ½ lbs. very ripe green figs, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- While the jam is cooking, prepare the rest of the fig squares. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8×8 inch baking pan with parchment paper, letting the excess drape over the sides.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, rolled oats, coconut, sugar, baking powder, and sea salt. Add the coconut oil and mix again. I find using my hands the easiest way once the coconut oil is added. Press ⅔ of the oat crumb mixture into the prepared baking pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 ½ cups rolled oats, ½ cup shredded coconut, ½ cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon sea salt, ¾ cup coconut oil
- Pour the fig jam over the baked crust in the pan then top with half of the remaining oat crumb and pat down gently. Sprinkle the remaining oat crumb over top.
- Bake the fig squares in the oven for an additional 20-25 minutes, or until the top is light golden brown. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before removing from the pan and cutting into 12-16 squares, depending on how big you want the squares.
Made these twice thanks to our fig bush. Came out tasty and filling. Great for morning, but hard to ignore when they’re around. I substitute coconut sugar for brown sugar and they came out great!
These were very dry. Too much crust and topping for the amount of filling. I weighed the figs first. This was my first time trying this recipe. I see how the recipe has potential to be delicious, and I may try it again with much more fig filling.
These bars are amazing!!! I used Himalayan pink salt as I didn’t have sea salt. I will make these with my fresh figs every year when they ripen on my tree!!
Fig Heaven!
I actually weighed each ingredient per grams, as every measuring bowl/tsp varies and may not get an accurate amount as you have gotten. The figs that are in stores around me are most likely not the same, as 1 1/2 lb was about 16 figs. Those who do want to give this a go, definitely weigh your ingredients!
I did make them in muffin pans and tart shells, which turned out wonderfully 🙂 If I could attach a photo I would! De-molding them was so much easy, the bar stuck together like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!
Delicious! Thanks for sharing this gem!
Thank you for the recipe. However, I tried it yesterday and wouldn’t make it again. The proportions are way off, and if you follow this to the T (I actually weighed out three lbs. of fresh figs, which is about 30 figs), you end up with way too much for an 8×8 pan, and either too much jam or too much of the granola/grain portion. I tried to adjust as I went along, but the result isn’t worth it.
I was wondering, I have organic dried figs, could I use those instead of fresh? And how would I if I could? Your recipe sounds super marvelous! ? Thank you!
I’ve never tried this recipe using dried figs so I can’t say for sure. You’ll likely want to add some water when you’re making the jam. Or soak them first in hot water so they are soft. 🙂
Sounds yummy but you omitted the oven temperature in your recipe 🙁
350 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s in step #2 🙂
Super delicious with just enough sweetness!
I wanted to ask how these should be stored and for how long? (Tightly sealed, room temperature for 3 days?)
Exactly! After 3 days they’ll start to dry out. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months. 🙂
Can the bars be frozen?
Yes!
Absolutely Delicious! Very easy to make since I had previously already had made the fig jam. The family loved it and is one of our favorites now! Yum
I loved this recipe! I found it easy to follow, and weighed the figs to make sure I had enough. My figs were also small so I used about 12 figs. I would definitely make this again! Thank you so much for this fantastic recipe!
You’re very welcome!
I laughed at your comments about the lemon balls – off-white round things…. very funny you are.
I love a strong lemon flavour so these are enticing me to do some cooking and baking… thank you.
You’re so welcome!
These look amazing! Can you substitute instant oats for the rolled oats? Rolled oats are sold out everywhere!
Instant oats should work well, too!
This was a delicious way to use up some figs we were given! I found I needed to strain the fig jam as mine was very watery. But these were amazing ?
So happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe!
Hi I made this recipe as I had a lot of ripe figs. It turned out great. I made a couple of changes. I used softened butter instead of coconut oil I used a lot of figs which I cooked longer and made into a preserve. I also used a larger baking dish.
So happy to hear it turned out!
Hi, I tried this recipe and It did not turn out the way I hoped. I substituted melted butter instead of vegetable oil and the result was the bottom crust was dry and fell apart when cutting into the bars. Also, 9 figs were not enough. I had 10 dried figs that I softened into a jam and I ended up adding the equivalent of a bag of frozen blueberries softened into a jam so that it would spread over my 8×8 pan.
I’m sorry to hear that the recipe didn’t turn out as you had hoped.
I absolutely loved these fig squares! They were so delicious and my coworkers ate them within minutes. I ran out of coconut oil, so I used half coconut oil and half avocado oil. They still tasted amazing. My fig mixture did not produce water, so I just added the mixture on top of the cooked crust. Absolutely divine and I will make them again! Thanks for a wonderful recipe.
You are very welcome!!
I love this recipe, thank you for sharing. My husband and 3 year old daughter thought they were delicious!
That makes me so happy to hear!
The figs make only about half a cup of jam, definitely not enough the amount to fill the fig squares
I’m sorry to hear that the recipe wasn’t a success for you.
I used 12 small figs a friend gave me from her backyard tree. They are small. I’m not sure how large a typical fig is supposed to be. I ended up adding some blackberry preserves to offset my lack of figs. It worked and they turned out great So it would be good to know what size of figs should be used for this recipe. I’m planning on using about 20 of the small figs next time.
The ones I used were about the size of a lime. Hope that helps!
About how many cups of figs jam does 1.5 pounds of figs make? I have fig jam but no fresh figs.
It will be about 2 cups. 🙂
About how many calories are in this recipe?
I’ve added the nutritional information to the recipe for you. 🙂
Thank you Kristen for this simple & delicious recipe!!! I too looove figs. I’ve made your fig square recipe numerous of times now & they disappear in a couple of days. I add lemon zest to fig jam while cooking & 1 cup of chopped walnuts to dry ingredients. I also toast coconut to enhance flavour. Works great with swapping regular flour for almond flour too!
Hope you are growing your very own green fig tree these days?! 🙂
Frozen figs work amazing especially when craving during the winter. Thanks for your creativity!
So happy that you love the recipe! We planted a fig tree last year and can’t wait for it to start producing so I can make this recipe more often!
I don’t have figs and my kids aren’t a fan of them anyway. What fruit could I substitute please?
I haven’t tried any other fruits in this recipe but prunes may work. Or these blueberry bars are delicious, too!
I have a BUNCH of dried fruit left over from holiday baking and these look like a great mostly-healthy work snack! Any thoughts on using DRIED fruit? Maybe just a little glug of water? I can just wing it!
I have never tried it with dried fruit so I can’t say for sure. If you decide to experiment, I’d love to hear how it goes!
Oh I’m definitely going to make this when I have my hands on some figs!!
Yaaa!
Hi,
I have some black figs also. Did you keep skins on (I guess they soften like any other fruit when making like jam)?
And just wondering what the flour is for?
Yep … I leave the skins on! The flour is to help hold the base together. If you want a no flour recipe, try using oat flour like in this one: https://www.theendlessmeal.com/healthy-cranberry-coffee-cake/
Will it make a difference if I use black instead of green figs?
As long as they’re fresh figs (not sulfured) you can use black figs instead. As the black ones tend to be a little sweeter, you may want to cut down on the sugar.
Tried the coconut fig squares. Not clear on directions especially the brown sugar part. 1/2?cup in fig mixture or in the topping. Think good to revisit directions and clarify. Please spell out what exact ingredients go in topping and when, just a suggestion….in case another baker tries recipe
Thanks
I really appreciate the heads up that the directions weren’t clear. I agree with you, they weren’t! I’ve made some changes so (hopefully) they are now. 🙂
Wow, this looks so good but i missed out on the figs, someone gave me fig preserves, would it work to use them or should i go with date’s ? I would just love to try these, Thank you ever so much, hope you can
help me out here <3 Thank you, Mary
I bet they would work! When I boiled the figs for a while it essentially made fig preserves. You could make the crust and crumble topping and just use the fig preserves you have as the filler. 🙂
Must make? O yes!! They sounds wonderful! Coconut and fig must be a heavenly combo!
I am such a fig fan!
Figs are so great, aren’t they?!!! If I ever have a yard, planting a fig tree is the first thing I’m doing. 🙂