I swear I'm not turning into a hippie mom that doesn't buy anything store bought but instead insists on making everything from scratch. At least I don't think I am. And frankly, I never liked the original, but these are killer cookies, my friends. Just the smell of the filling of dried figs and honey was intoxicating, I was immediately transported to Turkey. My doctor reminded me the other day how good dried figs are for you...packed with iron, potassium, fiber, and then the idea of fig newtons became stuck in my head. I knew my daughter would love them as a snack with some cold milk (apparently even my husband loves fig newtons). Since she's never had the packaged kind I'm pretty sure if she were given one some day she'd say "these taste funny, I like my mom's", at least, I can dream, right? I was raised a child of two immigrants who themselves were raised on fresh ingredients and homemade food. They weren't even sent off to school with a cold lunch, but rather, it was delivered to them piping hot at mealtime. I mean, can you imagine stay at home moms having one more thing to be responsible for? I'm pretty sure they'd all quit. So when my mother came to this country she was horrified at the options within grocery stores. She couldn't believe soups came in cans, and cereals had sugar in them. She brought us up in a way that would have made Michael Pollen proud. I had to drizzle fresh honey on Cheerios because my mom didn't like the artificial flavors in Honey Nut Cherrios. That's not to say that I didn't raid my best friend's pantry for Little Debbie snacks on occasion. Sorry, mom. This recipe is adapted from Weelicious, a great site for meal ideas for anyone with a toddler. It was by far the most simple recipe I found and it worked out perfectly. You could easily make this more healthy by using your flour of choice. I used all-purpose but whole wheat would be even better, or spelt. The cookies taste even better with age as they soften up, which is another element I love about this recipe.
12 oz dried figs, chopped, with stem removed (I used Greek, Kalamata figs). You can find dried figs at Whole Foods, or Trader Joes or your local Mediterranean market
pinch of orange zest
1 T honey
6 T butter, soft
1/3 c sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 c flour
Place figs in a medium bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit for about 10 minutes. In a food processor, add about 1 T of soaking liquid. Drain figs and add to food processor along with honey and orange zest. Pulse until a nice paste is formed. With a stand mixer or a bowl with a hand mixer, cream butter and sugar for 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat for a few more minutes. Add flour and mix until a dough forms. Dump dough out onto parchment paper. If it is too sticky to work with let chill in fridge for 15 minutes. I read some reviews for various fig newton recipes that mentioned the dough was difficult to work with. I did not find this to be the case, but add flour or allow to come to room temperature if it's too sticky or cracks too much. Roll out dough into a 12 inch by about 8 inch rectangle. Slice in half, lengthwise, to form two rectangles. Spoon out fig filling and spread along inner length of each rectangle. Basically, since each piece of dough is 4 inches wide you want the filling to roughly fill in the inside 2 inches, with an inch border on each side. The filling isn't the consistency of a jam, but more like a paste, so I really used my fingers and pressed it into the dough. Fold over each side and press into each other to form the logs. You'll need to judge the amount of filling with your eyes as if it's too full you may have trouble folding over the dough to form the log. If the dough cracks simply pinch and pat it back into place. It's really not rocket science. You can always save some of the filling to use on bread or crackers. If entertaining, the fig filling would be a great addition to a cheese platter. Slice about 10 cookies per log and place on a lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until ever so slightly golden along the edges.
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