Homemade Fig Newtons

Seems I've been slacking off with posting- a lot has been going on in my life these days, so this write up is going to be a bit brief. Last weekend, I went to my sister for Shabbat and as usual, I was baking something. This time, though, she had a verrry specific request and that was for Fig Newtons. I'm not sure where that random request came from but I considered it nonetheless. Strangely, I recalled that Gale Gand has a recipe for homemade fig newtons in one of her books. (I do think it's strange that my brain has the uncanny ability of remembering who has what recipes in their cookbooks. Not so normal!!) Anyway, I pulled out her Just a Bite and sure enough, she had a recipe for what she calls Fig Nortons, but I know the truth- theyre knockoffs of the real things so I decided to retain their original name. The filling consists of cooking together figs, apple juice, orange juice and cinnamon until thick and then pureeing it. The dough was easy to make as well-- I did both parts in advance. My only qualms with this recipe is that 1. the dough is a bit hard to work with- be generous with the flour and 2. the recipe for the filling is far too little for the amount of dough produced, so I would double it.  Otherwise, these are delicious. My brother in law claims they are better than the real thing. How could they not be? Homemade anything always beats store bought. Try them- if you're a fig lover, you'll be won over.

Homemade Fig Newtons

slightly adapted from Just a Bite

Dough:

3 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/8 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

12 tbsp cool butter or margarine, in pieces

3 eggs

Filling:

1 cup dried figs, cut into chunks

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup apple juice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

For the dough: Blend all of the dry ingredients in a mixer. Add the margarine and mix until sandy. Whisk the eggs together and add to the bowl. Mix to combine. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill at least two hours.

For the filling: Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan and cook over medium until all the liquid is absorbed by figs. Timing varies, just be patient.

Puree in a food processor. Chill until ready to use.

Roll out half a portion of dough into a rectangle. Cut lengthwise into strips, at least three inches long. Place some filling down the center and then fold the dough over to cover. Repeat with remaining dough. Store unused dough in the freezer.

Place the logs on a parchment lined baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 375.

Bake around 15 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting with a bench knife. Store in containers.