Fig jam biscuits

When I made the fig jam at the beginning of this month, I began thinking what to do with it. I remembered when I was still in Cyprus (that's 27 years ago) we used to buy some biscuits full of fig jam in them and they were my favourite. I used to eat the whole package by myself. I searched the internet looking for fig biscuits, fig cookies but no luck. Then I saw something about the History of Cookies with the following description:

"Charles Roser won fame for creating the Fig Newton cookies recipe before selling it to Nabisco".

I then started looking for Fig Newton recipes and finally decided to make this one. I followed the recipe exactly as given, but unfortunately the dough broke. I tried to paste some dough on it but it became even worse so I decide to bake it and see what I could make with the remaining. The taste was fantastic but I will have to work on it next year.

After a quick thought I decided to make biscuits with the remaining dough but I also had doubts if this dough was suitable for biscuits.

I chose a cookie cutter to shape them and half of them I wanted to make a hole in the middle but had nothing to cut them with. Finally I decided that an ouzo lid was just about the size I needed to do the job 😛

The result

The Italian word for biscuits is biscotti and when I saw the event at the Great Cooks Community, September 2008 - Biscotti Bake Off, I planed to submit them for the event. However, it seems that the word biscotti in North America means something totally different from what we in Europe mean and still I am not sure about the difference between biscuits, biscotti, cookies and scones. I think I understood what biscotti is and I will be preparing another recipe for that event.

However, I am submitting this song to Elly, of Elly says Opa, who is hosting the event Eat to the Beat, with The biscuit song

Fig jam biscuits

Ingredients

• 1 c. sugar
• ½ c. butter
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 2 c. sifted flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. Blend sugar and butter. Sift dry ingredients together, add alternately with beaten egg to sugar mixture. Add vanilla. Pinch off dough about size of baseball. Roll to ⅛ inch thickness and about 5 inch wide by 12 inch long strip.
2. If you want to make the Figs Newton this is what you have to do:
3. In the center of a 5x12 inch strip, spread the cooked fig mixture. Fold one side of dough over the fig mixture, fold the other side to where they lap. Flip the folded side down on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Cut into bars while still warm.
4. However, after not succeeding to make a proper Fig Newton I rolled out the remaining dough covering the dough with cling film and tried to make then as thin as I could. I placed them on parchment paper and baked in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Centigrade for 15 minutes.
5. When they cooled I added 1 tablespoon of jam on the reverse side of the biscuit and pressed a biscuit with a hole on top just until the jam will show up in the whole.