When A Cookie Is Not Just A Cookie: Homemade Fig "Newtons"

Exactly one year ago, I crashed into adulthood when my husband, conspiring with my parents, found us a house we could not afford, that was somewhat of a fixer-upper. Three roll-off trash bins full of five tons of rat-infested ivy later, we realized we had a rather large yard. In this yard, we discovered what I like to call our mini-orchard: 2 apricot trees, 4 mission fig trees, 1 unknown fig variety, 1 avocado tree, 1 apple tree, 1 unproductive pear tree, 1 possible persimmon tree, a thorny mess of blackberries, and one elderberry bush. We have since added a peach tree, pomegranate tree, strawberries, and a small garden. Yes, we’re just about as crazy as a mad man in a blue box.

This unexpected fruit boon has really affected how and what I have been cooking lately. Our apricot season in spring and early summer was my first introduction to canning and dehydrating in an oven (recipes to come). As soon as we were sick of apricots –and so were our neighbors— the season ended and it was time for figs. While I am still canning and dehydrating our figs, my favorite recipe so far is for homemade “Fig Newtons.”

The moment someone uttered “Newton,” everyone was clamoring for the fruit and cake cookies. So I scoured the Internet for recipes and was happy to find most website and blogs were in general agreement. The recipe is actually pretty simple and doesn't take much prep time. The original recipe I used can be found here, but after making it several times, I have my own recommendations. 

Homemade Fig Newtons

Peel and halve for smooth filling

For the filling:

2 heaping cups peeled, halved figs* (we use black Mission figs)

1 cinnamon stick

1 cup water

1 heaping cup sugar**

For the dough:

1 stick butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons orange juice (I use fresh squeezed)

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Set oven to 350 degrees. 

For the filling:

For fresh figs, remove the stems, slice in half and peel. Measure about 2 heaping cups of figs and add to a medium sized pot (I prefer my dutch oven). Add cinnamon stick, 1 cup water, and 1 heaping cup sugar.** 

Boil mixture for 45 minutes. Drain, if necessary, and cool. Puree figs in food processor or hand blender until a thick paste forms.

For the dough:

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. I use an electric stand mixer, but you can simply mix by hand. Add egg, vanilla, and orange juice and mix. Once you add the orange juice, the ingredients may seem to separate. This is fine.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add these dry ingredient to the wet ingredients and mix until dough forms.

Prepare a floured surface and roll out your dough until it is a rectangle of about 8”x 12” to 8”x 14”. How thin you want your dough is your preference, but thinner is not necessarily better with these cookies, as they can fall apart prior to baking. Too thick, and you won’t have enough room to spread out your fig filling.

Once you roll out your dough rectangle, cut it in half length wise. You should now have two long, 4-inch wide rectangles of dough.

Spread fig paste onto half of each rectangle, lengthwise, leaving room along the edge. Fold dough over the fig paste in half, lengthwise to cover fig filling, and pinch edges to seal your cookies. You should now have two “logs” of dough filled with fig.

Transfer longs onto a greased baking sheet. (I like to scoot my baking sheet up to the cookie long on the floured surface and flip the cookie over onto the sheet.”

Bake 25 - 35 minutes at 350 degrees until crust begins to brown along the edges.

Slice logs into about 1-inch sized segments and cool. I like to slice before the cookies have fully cooled, as it can be more difficult to cut them as the crust hardens.

Here is my first messy fig cookie "log"

My favorite way to eat these cookies is as soon as they have cooled enough from the oven. This way, the filling is warm and the dough has a little crunch. Once the cookies cool completely, they tend to soften into a more cake-like texture.

Usually when I make these cookies, I like to double the recipe with 4 heaping cups of fresh, peeled figs. This way, you end up with 4 logs to slice as cookies. However, you end up with approximately 4 dozen cookies (depending on how thickly you slice them), which may be too much for a person without 5 fig trees. If you do double the recipe, increase the cooking time. We like about 40-45 min, or until the crust begins to brown

*Substitution: Since it is currently fig season, I recommend using fresh figs if you can find them. I have not substituted dried figs yet, since I have more figs than one person, her family, friends, and neighbors can eat, but you can see directions for using dried figs on the original recipe.

**While the original recipe calls for 2 cups sugar, the general consensus is this is far too sweet.

*** For Chocolate Lovers: While there are not that many recipes using chocolate and figs, the flavor combo is actually pretty tasty. For a fun update to these cookies, you can sprinkle chocolate chips in with your fig filling. It isn't a traditional fig cookie, but it is delicious.