Fig Cookies, Part 2
You've got that first bit down, right? The filling. If not, check it out here. Because now we're making cookies.
Remember how I said I wanted something like those brand-name, mass-produced fig cookies, but more--that is, more like a cross between a danish and a biscotti?
Stick with me here. Have you ever even considered crossing a danish and biscotti? I have! Sometime, I'll tell you about our attempts to cross cheesecake and baklava.
Anyway, here we go, the completion of our fig-stuffed cookies.
First off, position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400F. Line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat. Take the fig filling out of the fridge. (Say that last line five times fast.)
Whisk 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a big bowl until the whole mixture is uniform.
Whole wheat pastry flour? Indeed. It's whole wheat flour ground to a fine dust. It makes the best cookies--and you even get some whole grain in the mix. The more fiber, the better. (Not that those figs have any reason to be shy on that front.) If you use only all-purpose flour, the dough will require a little more--and it will be slightly less stable.
Use an electric mixer at medium speed to beat 3/4 cup granulated white sugar, 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening, and 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar in a large bowl until creamy and light, probably about 4 minutes. You can't overbeat it. More air = more tenderness. Knock yourself out.
Beat in 3 large eggs one at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next.
The secret here is that the eggs must be at room temperature. Egg proteins curl up in the chill, about like your toes in bed on a winter night. When they come back to room temperature, they stretch out and so are able to build a lattice-like structure in the batter which in turn traps more air and makes a more successful dough.
Turn off the beaters; add all the flour mixture. Beat on low just until a dough starts to form--and no more! Here, you can overbeat the thing, stretching out the wheat glutens. Less is more. Here and here only.
Gather the dough into a ball and divide it into three equal parts.
Sprinkle a few drops of water across your work surface and lay a large piece of wax paper on top. (The water droplets will help it stick in place.) Sprinkle a little all-purpose flour over the wax paper, then place one of the pieces of dough on top. Press the dough down to flatten it a bit, dust it with flour, and lay a second sheet of wax paper on top.
Roll the dough between the wax paper until it's a 12 x 5-inch rectangle. Don't hesitate to get out the ruler. There's no reason to go nuts but obsessiveness does win the day when baking. To get the dough to that long rectangle, you'll need to roll gently back and forth in one direction, smooth it out lengthwise before you try to make it slightly wider.
Peel off the top sheet of wax paper and spread a third of the fig mixture across the rectangle, leaving a 1/2-inch border at each end and a 1-inch border down the long sides of the rectangle.
Fold one long side of the rectangle over and onto the other so that you create a long tube with the filling inside. Seal the long seam shut by crimping it together, then seal the ends up.
Transfer the log to the prepared baking sheet seam side down, and then do that whole operation two more times, making two more filled tubes. Make sure you replace your wax paper as necessary if it gets sticky and starts to grab onto the dough. And leave a couple inches space between the tubes on the baking sheet.
Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes.
Cool the logs on the baking sheet for 10 minutes--they're quite fragile. Then use a big spatula to transfer them to a wire rack and continue cooling for 1 hour.
Now use a sharp knife to slice them into 1-inch thick "rounds." They'll crumble a bit because they're so like biscotti. Look at that first picture. You can see a few cracks and crumbs around. Don't worry. Just don't saw through them too much. Better a heavier, sharper knife so you can just cut straight down to make the rounds.
And you're done. Store them between sheets of wax paper in a sealable container for several days--although I guarantee you they won't last that long.
Mark Scarbrough | Posted on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 3:32PM | in Cookies, Desserts, Fabulously Empty Calories
Reader Comments (8)
Oh my gosh, I love you. I love figs. I love biscotti. I love pretending that these are healthy. I know what my weekend project is going to be.
Well, shoot, Diana. I love you, too. (Fiber is healthy, no?)
All done - here's a photo of mine! I didn't have any whole wheat flour, so used half plain (AP) and half bakers flour. I also used butter, since we don't have any shortening. The end result was delicious - crisp, but crumbly pastry over a delicious fruity centre. Been walking around the neighbourhood sharing them with the neighbours. Thank you for the recipe! :)
Cheers, Celia
Celia: These are lovely--and spot on! As I said, I think the mix of flours will work. Sometime, try it with whole wheat pastry flour and see what happens. A lovely wheaty taste. We didn't use butter because we didn't want anything to compete with the filling--but I can certainly see its benefits. That said, we used trans fat free, non-hydrogenated solid vegetable shortening, rather than the "bad" stuff.
Mark, I didn't mean any disrespect (as the expression goes) by changing things in the recipe a bit - I was only trying to use up what I had on hand. Too lazy to go shopping! Hope you and Bruce didn't mind...
Purely for discussion's sake - we never use shortening because Pete doesn't like the taste, and it's far less commonly used in baking here than it is overseas, so there's not really much choice at the supermarket. I haven't seen a contemporary Aussie recipe specify shortening (or, as we call it here, "margarine") for decades.
And re whole wheat flour, again it's an accessibility and preference thing. We can't buy "pastry flour" here at all. Wholemeal plain flour is available, but I'm not a fan of the taste nor how it bakes up, so never keep it in the house. I contemplated using a little rye or spelt bread flour instead, but decided in the end that you'd called for wheat, so I should stay with that.
An interesting point about wholemeal flour, at least over here - I was talking to a couple of friends who are millers, and they told me that wholemeal flour is actually more processed than white. To make wholemeal, they have to mill the flour to white, then add back bran - it isn't really a case the flour being less milled than white. Whole wheat might be different - I'm not sure what the term specifically refers to?
Cheers, Celia
Celia: Mind? Are you kidding? I found it fascinating how you morphed it all.
As to shortening, I find it quite nice in things were the slight sourness of butter skews the flavors a tad out of balance. But again, only the trans fat free stuff, the non hydrogenated shortening. Anything else doesn't make the grade.
Not sure what you mean about whole wheat pastry flour being "more refined." Over here, it's the ground bran, germ, and endosperm, made quite fine. The refined, all-purpose flour is much more processed, as it were.
As always, it's a real pleasure when you're on this blog.
M.
M & B (I'm always tempted to type Mark-Bruce Scarbrough-Weinstein :)), I wanted to let you know how versatile I'm finding your cookie recipe (we would call it a "biscuit" here). I had a little leftover from my last batch of fig cookies, and I filled it with jam. The dough was perfect - the jam surprisingly didn't leak out. I also love how the crumb softens up after a day or so, and it becomes lovely and tender - a bit like the pastry of a really good mince pie. So thank you - the fig cookie recipe was fantastic, but the future uses of the dough are a great bonus!
Take a snap of those jam cookies and share a link here, Celia. Sounds divine.
M.