Walnut, fig and prune bars

Serves: 7
Course: Dessert
Cooking Time: 1 hr 0 mins

Ingredients

  • Serves 6-8
  • For the crust
  • 2 tbsp chia seeds, soaked in 50ml water so that they swell (and yes, they do resemble frogspawn – of tiny frogs though)
  • 240g walnuts
  • 150g coconut flakes
  • 60g apple sauce
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 50ml olive oil or melted butter
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • For the filling
  • 100g dried figs
  • 200g prunes
  • Good pinch cinammon
  • Good pinch ground ginger
  • 2 apples, grated
  • Zest and juice of 1 lemon

In a food processor, blitz together all the dry ingredients except the chia seeds and butter/oil until they reach a loose, crumb-like consistency.

Then take three-quarters of the mixture out and mix with the chia seeds and butter or oil; you will need the remaining quarter as a topping. Smooth the larger portion of mixture into a lined 20cm baking tin.

To make the filling, blitz all the ingredients together in a food processor and spoon onto the crust mixture in the tin.

Top with the remaining crumb mixture and bake for 30 minutes at 170 degrees/gas 3, until golden. Serve on their own or, if you must (and really, sometimes you must) with cream.

Food cooked and styled by Domini Kemp and Gillian Fallon

Domini Kemp

Domini Kemp

Domini Kemp, a contributor to The Irish Times, is a chef and food writer