Fig Newtons

I can't think of a better use for a jar of Fig Jam than Fig Newtons.  I'm not even sure why I originally bought this jar of jam.  It's not like fig jam is a kitchen staple.  The only other occasion I've used it is to make these quesadillas with fig jam, and prosciutto and goat cheese which are freakin' delicious.  I must have seen this and thought that I would make them but I purchased this when we lived in TN so it's been a couple of years since I had that moment of inspiration.  I would have made those except that I'm pretty sure people would look at me weird if I brought quesadillas into the office to share.

The difficulty of moving overseas is that I can't just stick the stuff that the movers won't pack in my car.  Even my car has to go on a boat to get to Korea and I'm not sure what I can convince the movers to pack (or sneak into boxes while they're not looking) so I'm trying to use up as much as possible.  But beware, if the movers refuse to pack my spices I'm going to completely lose my cool.  You all will hear me scream from wherever you are.

So, back to the fig newtons.  I don't ever think to buy fig newtons, but I do generally like them.  I know that sounds weird coming from me because there's a modified fruit product inside of them, but somehow figs don't freak me out like other fruits.  Fresh figs are certainly superior to dried figs - you won't catch me eating a dried fig by itself but to be perfectly honest I'd never think to eat a fresh fig by itself either.

I was surprised to find out that the dough of a fig newton has orange in it.  I don't even recall tasting oranges in my fig newtons but I did some cross referencing and it was a common denominator among the made from scratch fig newton population.

The dough itself is pretty easy.  It uses both honey and sugar as the sweeteners which I enjoy.  There is both orange juice and orange zest in there to give it that citrus flavor.  I used half whole wheat and half all purpose flour in here because I don't recall real fig newtons being all white floury.

The dough gets chilled and rolled out, then cut into strips.  Each strips gets filled with the fig jam.  The jam I used was much thinner that the typical filing inside of a fig newton - that is more like a fig paste.  It also wasn't as dark, I imagine it was made with a different type of fig.

Once the strips are filled with jam, they get sealed up and moved to the baking sheet.  This was very difficult and I broke most of them in the process and tried my best to seal them up so I didn't have a jam jailbreak on my hands.

Unfortunately, my newtons spread out significantly while they were baking so even after I cut them (which I swear I did even if I neglected to take a picture of them) they didn't really look like fig newtons.  They did, however, taste really good.  I liked that the filling was thinner than in a typical fig newton and there weren't as many seeds in there messing with the texture.  The dough is pretty darn good.  I loved the flavor of the orange, honey and whole wheat flours together.

All in all, a pretty good use of a jar of jam and one less thing I have to throw in the trash.

Fig Newtons
Adapted from Chef In You

Ingredients
1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 cup Butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup Sugar
1 T Honey
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Orange Zest
3 Egg Yolks
2 T Orange Juice
1 1/4 cup Fig Jam

Instructions
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar and honey on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the vanilla, orange zest, egg yolks and orange juice and mix on low speed until just combined.  Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.  The dough will be very soft.

Transfer the dough to a large sheet of plastic wrap.  Fold the plastic over the dough and flatten into a disc.  Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.

On a heavily floured surface, roll the dough out into a rectangle that is approximately 18" long, 6" wide and 1/4" thick.  Cut the dough into 5 strips approximately 3.5" wide and 6" long.

Place a strip of Fig filling in the center of the dough about 1" wide.  Lift one long side of the dough and fold it over the filling.  Repeat for the other side.  Place the logs on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake them for about 15 minutes or until puffed and light brown. While they are still warm, trim them into 1" long cookies.  

Enjoy!
Julie