photo provided courtesy of elanaspantry.com
The other day when I was at the grocery store with my children, my son mentioned how much he liked fig newtons. I happen to love fig newtons too. I can remember being a kid and mowing through a whole sleeve of them myself. Have I mentioned that I used to have a MAJOR sugar addiction that I still have to work to control? That’s why it is so great to make sweets at home. When you make homemade treats you know exactly what goes into them and can make healthy substitutions. When I use stevia, coconut sugar, Somersweet, agave (which they now sell at our local Costco), or yacon syrup I do not get the crazy insulin swings that lead me to a sugar binge.
I knew I had some dried figs in the pantry at home and got to thinking that it would be a lot of fun to MAKE fig newtons with my kids. This is the recipe we used (gluten and dairy free) from Elana’s Pantry. Elana has been a Guest Blogger here on Veggie Grettie.
These cookies were yummy, but when I make them next time I plan on not using the lemon and will substitute with water or OJ instead. These cookies are also very moist, which tastes great, but for fun I will be adding some gluten free flour or oat bran to the dough next time to firm it up (I will just add it until I feel it reaches the right consistency) as well as using only 2 Tbs of oil.
INGREDIENTS – Makes 20 cookies
Filling:
1 cup dried figs
½ cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed (they are pretty lemony…next time I plan on using water or OJ instead)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Dough:
2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ cup agave nectar
¼ cup yacon syrup
¼ cup grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Place figs in a food processor and blend for 30 seconds until they are well chopped
- Add lemon juice and vanilla; process until a smooth paste results
- In a large bowl, combine almond flour and salt
- In a smaller bowl, combine agave, yacon, grapeseed oil and vanilla
- Mix wet ingredients into dry, then refrigerate dough for 1 hour
- Divide chilled dough into 4 parts
- Between 2 pieces of parchment paper , roll out 1 part of the dough into a 10 x 4 inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick
- Spread ¼ of the filling evenly down the right side (lengthwise) of the rectangle
- Fold the dough in half down the long side –resulting in a 10 x 2 inch bar
- “Mend” the seam so the bar is symmetrical
- Repeat with 3 remaining parts of dough and filling
- Transfer each bar to a parchment lined baking sheet; bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes (Mine took 25 minutes to cook)
- Allow to cool slightly; cut bar every 2 inches to form the fig newtons
- Serve
For a printable version of this recipe click here.
To learn more about Elana Amsterdam click here.
Oh wow. I remember visiting my Grandparent’s house as a child and these were always in the biscuit tin – they are so amazing. One of my favourites.
These newtons sound so many times better than the dried out biscuits I remember as a kid… Those were always such a disappointment to find in my lunch box, but one of these would be a delight to have! I’ve never worked with yacon syrup, but now I want to seek it out and try it for myself.
Oh yakon is great…I use it often in the same way I would use molasses. I can’t to hear about your experiments with yakon!
i love fig newtons and love figs as well. i also have a HUGE sugar addiction and have not been able to control it. it is very frustrating. any suggestions? thank you.
Hi Marianne. Sugar addictions are HARD, but they are beatable. During our cruise I overindulged in sugar and my addiction was back. When we got back I went through sugar withdrawl and came out the other side better than ever! I still eat “sweet” foods, but I am careful about where my sweets come from. I have been sweetening my smoothies with dates and stevia. I find dates to be a really great sugar substitute because they are so sweet, but they are loaded with fiber and nutrients, so they are much more satisfying to the body than sugar which is devoid of anything the body truly “needs.” I find that I really need to stick with natural/unprocessed sweets and then my sugar cravings are manageable. As soon as I eat processed sugar I fall of a cliff…I swear that I am truly addicted to it because I am fine without it until I have one bite and then I NEED it. My best recommendation is to decide to give-up the sugar and then tell everyone around you (I informed my husband) about your decision so they can keep you accountable. Once you get through the initial withdrawl and start satisfying your cravings with dates, stevia, etc. it will be smooth sailing.