Fig Rolls Are Great.

 

Hiiiiiii, 

I was just wondering, are Fig Rolls the things that American folks call Fig Newtons? Today's homework...find and munch some and supply me with some feedback. Thaaaanks.

 

Anyhooo...back to Fig ROLLS. They are the sort of thing that I never buy, but whenever I do have one, dunked in tea so the sponge goes not-too-soggy and the gritty, treacle inside sticks to your teeth, I think 'Fig Rolls are great'.

 

I always have at least one *cough 3* when I'm in Sunny Somerset. They're Mum's midnight snack of choice you see so there's a fairly consistent supply, but I have been meaning to make them from scratch with her for a good year.

 

So this trip home we actually got round to it...well when I say we, I mean I popped them in the oven and then joined in the rents' lengthy debate about the best rock and roll song of all time which involved googling, CD rummaging, prancing round the kitchen and a lot of LOUD music. We didn't settle on an answer.

 

Such malarkey is not compulsory in the preparation of these lovely little fellows but it certainly does make it more fun. And you definitely should have a bash. This version is easy and you end up with a nice substantial biscuit which is perfect for those times when you feel like you need an energy kick up the bum. They're not too sweet and not very spongy. In fact I was thinking I might like to have another go and make a few tweaks so they were a bit more like the shop bought version but Dad said NO, they're nice and biscuit-ey as they are...With Love and Cake.  

Fig Rolls

From food.com

A few notes:

• I made these raaather large, sort of over estimating the size of normal fig rolls. But I like that they're nice and substantial...a proper pick me up. If you want them a bit smaller, more shop-bought size, roll the pastry out to a a longer, narrower rectangle before spreading with the figs.
• Like I said, the pastry isn't very sweet, it's really left the to sticky figs to bring that to the table, but if you'd like to add a bit more sugar go ahead, or maybe give them a dusting of icing sugar as they cool after baking.
• I've used 50/50 wholemeal and plain flour which contributes to these feeling like a substantial snack. You could use  all plain flour though which I think would make them a bit lighter.
• If you don't have a food processor, just rub the butter into the four and sugar using your fingers and mix in the water by hand.

Makes 10 large biscuits 

You will need

a baking sheet, greased

175g soft dried figs, with the hard tip removed

100g wholemeal flour

100g plain flour

2 tbsp light muscovado or light brown sugar

65g butter

• Preheat the oven to 175°c.
• Pop the figs in a pan with 300ml of water and simmer for about 20 minutes until the figs are soft and sticky.
• Puree the mixture in a blender or food processor.
• Now put the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and blend together, adding a tablespoon of water at a time until it comes together as a dough. I ended up using about 5 tablespoons but it depends on a few things so just keep and eye on it.
• Tip the dough out onto a floured surface, knead together and roll to a rectangle of around 40x12cm.
• Spread the figs over the pastry and fold each long side into the middle so they slightly overlap.
• Trim the ends, cut into 5cm slices and transfer to the baking tray, join side down.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes until slightly darker brown.
• Leave to cool and dunk in your tea.