Homemade Fig Newtons

I've said on this blog before that I have the best neighbors!!  Mr. Robins is especially good to us.  He invites us to pick thorn less blackberries in early summer, brings a shoe box full of figs in late summer, and delivers a big bag of persimmons in the fall. 

We usually reciprocate with okra that his wife loves, but this year I didn't plant okra, opting for zinnias instead.  I have felt guilty all summer :(  I try to bake something out of his produce to take to them as a "Thank You".  Persimmon rum cake was a big hit, but I have had a run of bad luck that started last fall with our infamous persimmon beer.  

My sister was here when this year's box of figs was delivered and I decided to try and redeem myself by making homemade fig newtons with Jamie's help. We found the recipe on Pinterest:  http://foodblog-com.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-06-13T07:19:00-07:00&max-results=4&start=40&by-date=false

We boiled down our figs and added sugar and cinnamon.

Rolled out our dough.

Added our filling, rolled the dough around it, then turned the roll seam side down on parchment paper.

After baking, we cut them into newtons!

 It was an easy recipe and they turned out perfectly, BUT the recipe called for dried figs and we were substituting fresh figs.  We had to estimate how many fresh figs equaled the amount of dried figs the recipe called for and our fresh figs were softer than dried figs.  Dried figs are much sweeter than fresh, so we had to adjust the amount of sugar.

All this to say that they tasted OK, but probably would have been delicious with dried figs. They were healthier though -no preservatives - and that was a plus.  I wasn't enamoured with them enough to share with the neighbors. I guess I could have taken them a few newtons and a persimmon beer to wash them down, but I'm afraid they would have thought, "If this is what she is doing with our wonderful produce, let's stop sharing it with her!" 

I'll have to bake them a Leslie's Cake to make up for it !!! (see post from 7/27/15)

Here's the recipe for anyone who wants to bake them correctly :)

Love ya'll,

Shelli

Ingredients

for the fig filling:
1 1/2 pounds dried Calimyrna figs
1 cup water
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1/4 dark rum
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
for the cookie dough:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

for the filling: Use kitchen scissors to snip the stems from the figs, and snip each fig into 5 or 6 pieces. In a large sauce pan, combine the figs, water, apricot preserves, rum, cinnamon, and cloves. Stir to mix well. Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce the heat to low and let the filling simmer until thickened, but not extremely thick, about 10 minutes. Cool the filling and purée it in a food processor with a metal blade. You can refrigerate both the filling a dough for a couple of days if you’re preparing in advance.

 for the cookie dough: Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse several times to mix. Add the butter and pulse repeatedly until the butter is finely mixed in, but the mixture is still cool and powdery. Add the eggs and vanilla and pulse repeatedly until the dough forms a ball. Invert the bowl onto a floured work surface and carefully remove the blade. Briefly knead the dough 2-3 times to make it smooth. 

Divide the dough into 6 pieces and roll each into a rope about 12″ long. Place 1 rope on a floured work surface and press and roll it to make a rectangle of dough about 4′ wide and 12″ long. Pipe or spoon about 1/6 of the filling down the middle of the dough, spreading it about 2″ wide with a small offset spatula. Use a pastry brush to paint the exposed dough with water, then lift up the dough all around to enclose the filling within a tube of dough. Pinch the seam closed where the 2 edges of the dough meet. Turn the filled piece of dough over so that the seam is on the bottom and transfer it to one of the prepared pans. Repeat with the remaining dough, placing 3 filled dough cylinders on each pan. Gently flatten the cylinders of dough with the palm of your hand. 

When you are ready to bake the cookies, set the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and heat to 350℉. Bake the cookies until the dough is set and golden, 15-20 minutes. About halfway through the baking, place the pan from the lower rack on the upper and vice versa, turning the pans back to front at the same time.

 Cool the cookies on the pans. When they are cool, trim the edges and use a sharp knife to cut them into 2 1/2″ lengths.