Homemade Gluten-Free Fig Newtons (Vegan, Allergy-Free)

Name: Homemade Gluten-Free Fig Newtons (Vegan, Allergy-Free)
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: Fig Filling:; 1 1/2 Cups Dried Black Mission Figs (soaked in water overnight); 1/4 Tsp Cinnamon; 1/4 Tsp Pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract; Cookie Dough:; 1 Cup Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour; 3/4 Cup Teff Flour; 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder; 1/4 Cup Erythritol; 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon; 1/2 Tsp Pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract; 1/4 Tsp Nutmeg; 1/4 Tsp Orange Extract; 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce; 1 TB Milled Flax Seed + 2 TB Water (mix together to gel)

August 16, 2017 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 74 Comments

The classic cookie now baked right at home! Homemade Gluten-Free Fig Newtons, naturally sweet, vegan, and top-8 allergy-free. A healthy dessert or snack, these fig filled soft cookie rolls will be a new staple recipe in your home!

We’re getting “figgy with it” today! Welcome to the FIRST of many “old school” back-to-school recipe remakes I’ll be sharing over the next two months! One of the biggest reader requests I get is for gluten-free/allergy-free versions of some of those classic and iconic American processed foods we all used to love and grow-up with. I also get a lot of my recipe inspiration from my own childhood favorites or just the memories and events surrounding certain foods.

One of those classics happens to be the almighty Fig Newton! Nabisco also just crushed my soul when I went over to their site (while writing this) and read, “Ever since the first Fig Newtons were made over a century ago, we’ve been one unique cookie. However, we’ve grown a lot since then, and are now about much more than just Fig. So we dropped the “Fig” in our name and are now just Newtons. Our cookies are made with Whole Grain and a wide variety of fruits – from Blueberry to Strawberry – and come in both chewy and crispy varieties.” WHAT!? How can they do that? Newtons? No…I won’t stand for that nonsense!

“Here, try this Newton“…? That just sounds terrible! Fig Newton; can’t be called anything else and that’s what we’re calling them here on Strength and Sunshine! Let me give you my history with the Fig Newton. I started off loving them as a little girl. My mom would give them to me in those packed school lunches. Then as I got a little older, I remember starting to dislike them more and more. Something about the texture and the sweetness turned me off. I would dread opening my lunchbox and finding some figgies wrapped up in plastic as my “dessert”.

I never felt like I could bring myself to break my mom’s heart and tell her I didn’t like Fig Newtons. I guess I just went on with this false assumption that I still liked them. Thankfully they tapered off, but I remember still having a craving or two come back for the over the years. Unfortunately, then came Celiac and the Fig Newtons were obviously a thing of the past. For some reason that craving for Fig Newtons just kept growing and growing over the years. When you can’t have something, you know how that craving can be so strong for some of the oddest reasons. I couldn’t deprive myself anymore…we would have to make some homemade gluten-free fig newtons STAT!

You all know I LOVE figs (or at least I think I love figs). I love the thought of them and the name…the name for sure. Figs trump dates any day. I’ll always choose figs over dates for a recipe in need of high sugar dried fruit. After tasting these, I knew that the love I thought I had for figs was so true and real. I kid you not, these taste like the REAL DEAL. Yes, I’m a bit far removed from the Nabisco Fig Newton, but my food memory is pretty accurate. These are probably one of my favorite cookie I’ve ever baked. Gluten-free, vegan, allergy-free…fig dreams can come true!

Homemade Gluten-Free Fig Newtons