Fig Newtons

Fig Newtons are one of my all time favorite cookies. At some point I decided that I wanted to try to make my own. I knew there was no way I'd get them as low in calories as the store bought ones (only 40 per cookie), so I didn't even bother calculating the calories in these (there is really no need to alarm myself).

I had a little trouble finding a recipe that I liked, so I adapted one that I found on Recipe Goldmine.

Unfortunately, I didn't have nearly enough fig filling for the amount of pastry I made. I didn't want to waste all that good pastry, and I was out of figs, so I made some of the peanut butter filling from Peabody's recipe for Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cupcakes and stuffed the leftover pastry with that (and chocolate chips of course).

Then I didn't have enough pastry and I had half of the peanut butter filling left. I realized that this could turn into a very ugly never ending cycle of filling...pastry...filling...pastry, so I had to put an end to it by just eating the rest of peanut butter filling with a spoon.

The Fig Newtons were really good, and I figured that after eating about a cup of peanut butter filling, it really didn't matter anymore how many calories they had. So I ate six of them.

I've adjusted the amounts in the recipe, so hopefully this won't happen to you. But, if you do find that you have leftover pastry, I highly recommend the peanut butter filling with chocolate chips! On second thought, forget the pastry and the Fig Newtons, and just have a big bowl of peanut butter filling.

Fig Newtons

Filling:
2 cups dried figs, very finely diced
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar

Pastry:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

1. Make sure the figs are very finely chopped so you will be able to spread the filling evenly on the pastry. Simmer the figs in the 1/2 cup sugar and water for 10 minutes. Let cool.

2. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together.

3. Cream butter and 3/4 cup of sugar. Mix in honey. Add egg and beat until light.

4. Add dry ingredients and milk to creamed mixture. Add vanilla and blend well. Roll into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.

5. Divide dough into quarters and roll out into a rectangle that is approximately 11" long by 5" wide. Use a ruler and a knife to trim the pastry into a "neater" rectangle that is 10" x 4".

6. Spread with about 1/4 of the fig mixture. Fold sides of pastry over the filling and cut the the pastry into five 2" cookies.

7. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and repeat with the next 1/4 of the dough.

8. Bake at 400F for about 15 or until tops are golden brown.