Fig Newtons (Homemade)

"Make your own version of these tasty cake/cookies"
 
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photo by frostingnfettuccine photo by frostingnfettuccine
photo by frostingnfettuccine
photo by Happy Hobbit photo by Happy Hobbit
photo by Dixie Vader photo by Dixie Vader
photo by frostingnfettuccine photo by frostingnfettuccine
photo by frostingnfettuccine photo by frostingnfettuccine
Ready In:
2hrs
Ingredients:
11
Yields:
1 dozen
Serves:
12
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ingredients

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directions

  • Dice figs, soak in water 1 hour.
  • Add sugar & cook on medium heat until of thin jam consistency.
  • Beat sugar, butter, egg, milk & vanilla until well blended.
  • Add dry ingredients.
  • Mix well and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  • Place 1/2 on well floured dough cloth; knead about 6 times.
  • Roll out to 1/4" thick. Line 13 x 9" glass baking dish; cover with figs.
  • Roll remaining dough, cover figs. Cook at 350° for 30 minutes.
  • Let cool and cut into squares. Depending on the size you cut you can get a couple dozen cookies.

Questions & Replies

  1. How long will these keep? So they need to be refrigerated? Love the recipe!
     
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Reviews

  1. Very tasty (please see how I rate)! The dough was difficult to work with (like working with wet sand), and reminded me of a crumbly pie crust dough. Chilling the dough helped, and I think a tad more flour would help even more (like 2 cups total). What worked best for me was to divide the batch into four pieces and roll out each piece with lots of flour on a piece of parchment paper, while keeping the rest in the refrigerator. I decided to make strudel shaped cookies: I rolled out a rectangle, spooned the filling down the center and lifted the sides of the rectangle to cover the center (using the paper base came in handy). I placed the shaped logs in the freezer and when firm enough transfered to the baking pan seam side down. Also, I would suggest working with relatively narrow dough rectangles (ca. 3 inches) as the logs flattened and expanded while baking. Two pounds of fresh figs made a lot of filling, way too much than for the strudel shaped cookies, maybe layering like in the recipe would use up more filling, but it still seems that there is A LOT of fig preserve (which will be great for breakfast!).
     
  2. I'm new to this site and had never tried fig bars. We purchased a home with a few fig trees so I thought I would give them a try. After picking 2 lbs of figs and reading all of the reviews (thanks to all who took the time to review) I spent a rainy morning working though this recipe. While cooking them down, I (at my wife's suggestion) used a potato masher to speed up the breaking down of the less ripe figs and the skins. That seemed to really help. The dough was a challenge, but using another reviewer's suggestion, I used two sheets of floured wax paper to roll the dough out. Before rolling, however, I laid the sheets of wax paper over the baking dish and marked the corners with a sharpie. I folded a corner to keep the marks on the opposite side from the dough. You can easily see the marks through the paper and it helped when rolling. I used the paper for both the bottom and the top layer of dough, somewhat like what I have seen my wife do with the top layer of dough on a fruit pie. Even though the dough shaped didn't perfectly match the pan, I was able to easily spread it out to the edges with my fingers. The bars took 40-45 minutes to bake until the top layer was golden brown. The bars were flaky and really, really good. Well worth the effort and nothing like store bought. Nothing. If I can do it (ham fisted, new to this sort of thing guy here) anyone can. Great recipe to the original poster. Thank you!
     
  3. We loved the fig bars. I did, however, make a couple of changes. I used dried figs and did not add any extra sugar to them - just ran them through the food processor. I used a half cup of white sugar and a fourth cup of brown sugar in the crust and upped the amount of flour to two cups of mixed white and whole wheat flour. The bottom crust I just patted into the pan. I chilled the upper crust and rolled it out between two pieces of parchment. I'll definitely be making this recipe again!!
     
  4. Great tasting....so much better than store bought! The dough tastes good but needs some tweeking on workability. So while not pretty, very tasty, with a prolific amount of figs on my tree this year I will be making these again and again! Thanks.
     
  5. YUMMMM!!! I added the seeds from one fresh pomegranate from my yard to the fig mixture and it gave it just the right amount of tartness. These are incredible! I am bringing the pan to work tomorrow because I have no self control.
     
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Tweaks

  1. I loved Fig newtons as a kid so I was excited to try these! The taste is amazing, even better then from the box, but the dough was a little hard to work with. I found it easier to press the dough into the pan, then smear the jam on leaving a 1/2 inch border, and then pressing the other half on top, just make sure to seal the edges all around!
     
  2. A recipe I read long ago and have since lost, had a great idea. It said, after shaping the cookie, rest it on the handle of a wooden spoon, to get that unique shape, of the slight curve in the original, store bought type. I don't remember if they were just chilled on the wooden spoon or actually baked on it. Or, it might even have been, placed on the spoon after baking to cool and that made the shape...
     
  3. Way to much filling for the amount of dough. The dough was also very loose so I added more flour. I also replaced some of the sugar in the dough with brown sugar. Cookies were very tasty though.
     
  4. it is to oily. I used guava paste instead of figs and tastes good. But overall it is a good recipe.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I live in South Carolina, work in north Carolina. Love to hunt and fish. Was in the military for 10 years. Occasional cook for my children while my wife works nights.
 
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