Yesterday, January 16th was National Fig Newton day! Instead of running to the store, I decided to see if anyone in the blogosphere had tried making them before. Sure enough I found a recipe from Beantown Baker and substituted the figs for strawberries – my favorite kind of Newton!

It was a bit more trouble than I had planned. I followed the recipe and found the dough difficult to work with. In order to get the dough to a 16×12 inch rectangle it ended up being very thin. I managed to get them together working carefully, but at the end of the day what I really needed was more dough.

For future reference, I think the solution is to simply double the dough. Therefore, I doubled the dough recipe and have posted it here. I do have to say the taste is pretty much spot on! Although I too experienced them to be a little crispy immediately after baking, once they sat in an airtight container the dough became soft just like the real Newtons. Will definitely make these again!

DOUGH

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp grated lemon or orange zest (I used orange because I already had one)

2 large egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups flour

Directions:

1. Cream together the butter, sugar and zest in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, for 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Scrape down the bowl and paddle.
2. Add the egg white and vanilla and beat in. Scrape down the bowl and paddle again.
3. Add the flour and beat on low speed until the dough comes together.
4. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
5. Remove from refrigerator at least 10 minutes before using, allowing to soften.

FILLING

Ingredients:

2 lbs fresh strawberries

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar

Juice of half a lemon (I used juice from 1/4 orange juice, figuring that was roughly 1/2 lemon)

1 Tbsp cornstarch

Directions:

1. Hull the strawberries and cut them in half. In a medium sauce pan, combine strawberries, sugar, orange juice, and corn starch. Mash mixture a few times with a potato masher or fork.
2. Cook mixture over medium-high heat until bubbling and sugar has dissolved; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 35 minutes, until it has reduced by about one-third and is beginning to gel. Set aside until completely cool*.

*I did have another problem – the filling was not thick enough, which may have been due to using strawberries instead of figs (maybe I should’ve cooked them much longer). Added some corn starch which helped although still ended up with not much filling per cookie since it was still a bit runny.

Assemble the Fig Newtons:

1. Place racks in middle and lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to a 12 x 16 rectangle. Cut into 4 equal strips, each 12 x 4 inches. Spoon a line of filling down the center of each strip. Fold the dough over the filling and pinch the edges together. Using a serrated knife, slice each log on the diagonal into 10 cookies**. Place each cookie on the parchment-lined baking sheets, seam side down.
3. Bake, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through, for 12-15 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack.

**I waited to slice the cookies until after baking in order to prevent the filling from spilling out all over the place.

Source: Adapted from Beantown Baker