Fig newtons seem to be everybody’s childhood favorite. Especially my husband’s. I made a batch of homemade, gluten free fig newtons this weekend and he ate the cookies so quickly that I had to hide some for friends.
What makes these little fig newtons so special? Well, I’m told they taste like the real thing. And besides, unlike the original, they have no white flour, white sugar or artificial flavors. They’re gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and naturally sweetened, making them a perfect treat for just about anyone –including those on the GFCF diet.
Lately, a number of parents have been in touch with me about the GFCF diet. Through these correspondences I have been introduced to TACA, as well as Jenny McCarthy’s memoir about her son, Louder Than Words
, in which she discusses her journey to heal her son’s autism.
I am glad to have encountered this strongly networked group of parents and to provide GFCF recipes such as the one below that offer fun food for the whole family.
Fig Newtons
Ingredients
Filling:
- 1 cup dried figs
- ½ cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Cookie:
- 2½ cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ½ cup agave nectar or honey
- ¼ cup yacon syrup
- ¼ cup grapeseed oil or palm shortening
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- 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 small 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 paper lined baking sheet; bake at 350°F for 10-15 minutes
- Allow to cool slightly; cut bar every 2 inches to form the fig newtons
- Serve
Justine says
Yet again a wonderful recipe!!! Easy to make and all the family loves it! 5 star for this one! Elana you are a true kitchen hero!
Caroline says
I tried these and they were really excellent. Because I don’t use agave and didn’t have the syrup I substituted real maple syrup and a few tablespoons coconut sweetener. My Trader Joes almond flour was probably too course a grind so the dough came out far too wet to roll out. I added some rice flour I had to absorb moisture and stiffen the dough. It did the trick still rather then mess with rolling the dough I wet my hands and patted out a 3 inch by 10 inch piece of base.
Out of parchment paper as well so I used an oiled cookie sheet with no problems. The filling, because I only had 1/2 a lemon I diluted it with water and added about 1/2 a cup of blueberries to the figs to have a blueberry fig newton.
I took this mixture and spooned it over the base, then patted some dough on top of it. I repeated this a couple of times and because my cookie layers were thicker than those pictured I cooked them longer until the top of the cookie bar appeared as browned as the bottom. I cut them in slices.
I discovered these improve in flavor a great deal by the next day. I realized as well that I never really cared for fig Newton’s. I fixed them for a family member only to find out these are so much better than the standard dry, boring fig newton that they are my new favorite. The only thing I would do differently is not put quite so much vanilla in the dough, the blueberry fig is so lovely that much vanilla detracts a bit.
Lisa says
I tried these but substituted coconut oil for yacon oil. I thought they tasted too lemony. I think I’m going to try them with little lemon juice because they seemed good except for the strong lemon flavor.
Samantha says
Thought you’d like to know your image is being used in an etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/150036171/fig-newtons-home-made-gluten-free-sugar?ref=shop_home_active
Not sure if you gave permission for it or not, but just in case.