recipe reviews for:

Italian Fig Cookies I

“This recipe has been handed down through my mother's family for years. My grandmother brought it with her from Italy in the early 1900's. My mom taught me the recipe this year. Now I am the designated person in our family to make the Fig Cookies. This is a very high honor. So they must be as good as my Grandmothers' cookies. Some call them Homemade Fig Newtons. They are a tradition at Christmas and are wonderful with a hot cup of coffee. They are lot of work. I make them in stages. First the dough, then a few days later the figs, and finally I will make the cookies. The dough and the figs keep well in the refrigerator and the cookies freeze very well.”

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Reviewed: Mar. 3, 2012

I found the dough didn't seem to have the right consistence so I will experiment but I used mincemeat instead of the figs and besides the dough not coming out right it was delicious

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Reviewer:

bklein

Cooking Level: Professional

Living In: Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania, USA

Reviewed: Mar. 2, 2012

This is very similar to my great great grandmother's recipe, who also brought it from Italy in the early 1900s.(we use walnuts instead of pecans, and leave out the apple, but hey, perfection is all in the eye of the beholder. The one thing that I would definitely recommend though is allowing the fig mixture to sit for a few hours to a few days before making the cookies. This allows the flavors to meld together and it makes them taste better consistently. They are well worth the time and effort.

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Reviewer:

mrose

Reviewed: Feb. 23, 2012

Grinding the filling means to put it in what is called a meat or sausage grinder. The manual ones clip onto the edge of the table or cabinet and a handle is turned. There are some that have a vacuum base. There are electric ones and Kitchen Aid has one as an attachment for their mixer. A food processor will not substitute for a grinder. The texture will be different and much coarser, which is why your filling was too thick and dry.

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Reviewer:

Catty410

Reviewed: Feb. 23, 2012

I love fig newtons and these sound delicious. Can't wait to try them but I want to be clear about part of the instructions...it says to "grind" the fruit? As in a food processor? Since I don't have one, I'm just rying to figure out a good alternative. Thanks for any suggestions.

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Reviewer:

gordr04

Reviewed: Jan. 7, 2012

Love this one. My Dad brought this recipe from Sicily but he did not use apples.This recipe has been in my famly for 70 years and is traditionally made at Christmas. I learned to make this in the family bakery when I was a teenager. Great recipe and very much worth the effort.

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Reviewer:

BramptonMommyof2

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Living In: Brampton, Ontario, Canada

Reviewed: Dec. 21, 2011

Awesome!! The most amazing dough for a cookie I've ever had my hands on...and so versatile too- I had dough leftover so the next day I added grated lemon and orange rind and some orange liquer to that very same dough and made Struffoli. That turned out great too!

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Reviewer:

Anna Marie

Cooking Level: Expert

Reviewed: Dec. 9, 2011

This is a good fig cookie recipe. I made a few changes. Since it was my first time, I quartered the recipe. Still made a lot of cookies. I used butter instead of shortening, didn't add raisins (but increased the figs), and used walnuts instead of pecans. Another reviewer was right, a little orange goes a long way. The main change I did was to incorporate the fig goop into the batter and made drop cookies. I tried part of the batch with rolling out the dough and had a tough time with it. The drops cookies worked very well and are very tasty.

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Peggy C

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Reviewed: Dec. 8, 2011

I took note from the other commenters and put in a bit more of some ingredients and a little less of others. The recipe turned out well. I took the cookies to a friends house where her husband demolished the cookies.

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Reviewer:

Cherry_Tomato

Cooking Level: Beginning

Reviewed: Nov. 1, 2011

ok YES they make a LOT of cookies! I however am assuming I screwed up somewhere since I ended up adding the entire cup of water and the fig mixture was still completely solid (almost burning out my food processor). The only thing I think I messed up was not adding the orange peel in. Also I added the flour in without a problem and when I added the milk in... am I supposed to add it all in? Because after one cup it was literally soup in my bowl, so I added some more flour and kept my fingers crossed. They taste good even if the fig mixture was dry but not as good as fig newtons...

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Reviewer:

kyttenalyssa

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Goose Creek, South Carolina, USA

Reviewed: Aug. 7, 2010

First time making fig newtons. These cookies are pretty easy to make and they taste great! My friends all raved about them. I used non salted butter in place of shortening. But if you use butter remember to put the dough in the refrigerator for at least an hour so the butter sets up and you can roll out the dough easier. Also, be careful about using the full recipe becasue it makes a lot of cookies. I used 1/3 of the recipe for the filling and 1/4 of it for the dough. It made about 18 cookies. I made some cookies with the left over dough and put vanilla icing and sprinkles on them. Very tasty with coffee.

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