Fig Newgents

Photo: Liv Friis-Larsen / Istock

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It's rather indulgent to name a cookie after yourself like I did here. But these "hyperbaked" cookies are themselves indulgent. Swap out my last name for yours and join in on the indulgence, if you prefer. But if the name of these fig-filled delights is of no interest to you, then all that's left to do is enjoy one. Just one ... they're cookie sandwiches, after all.

Author of Big Green Cookbook: Hundreds of Planet-Pleasing Recipes and Tips for a Luscious, Low-Carbon Lifestyle.

A Planet-Friendly Bite from Big Green Cookbook
According to the California Fig Advisory Board, the fig is not technically a fruit! It's a flower that's inverted into itself. The seeds are the real fruit — otherwise known as drupes. Figs are the only fruit to fully ripen and semi-dry while still on the tree.

SERVINGS
8 Large Cookie Sandwiches

INGREDIENTS
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup stone-ground whole-wheat flour
11/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted organic butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup turbinado or Demerara sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large organic egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 medium Calimyrna or Mission figs, stems removed

PREPARATION
1. Combine the oats, flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Mix with a spoon to combine. Set aside.

2. Stir the butter and sugars in a medium bowl until well combined. Vigorously stir in the egg and vanilla extract. Add the oat mixture to the butter-egg mixture and stir until well combined.

3. Line 2 baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoon onto the sheets, at least 2 inches apart (8 cookies per sheet). These spread out a lot!

4. Place the baking sheets in the oven, then turn the heat to 400 degrees F (do not preheat). Bake until the cookies just spread out to cookie shape but are not browned, about 12 minutes. As quickly as possible (so you don't let out too much heat), open the oven and swap the trays — move the tray on the top rack to the bottom and bottom rack to the top.

5. Close the oven, then turn the oven off and let the cookies continue baking in the off oven with the residual heat until desired brownness, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the oven. (If necessary, gently separate cookies, if any of them slightly run together, with the edge of a spatula.) Let cool completely on baking sheets on wire racks. The cookies will be thin and crispy when cooled.

6. Meanwhile, mince the figs. Then "cream" them with a chef's knife or mash them using a mortar and pestle. Chill the creamed fig in the refrigerator.

7. When the cookies are cool and crisp, gently and thinly spread the chilled creamed fig onto the bottom side of 8 cookies. Top each with another cookie, bottom to bottom, so it forms a sandwich, and serve.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
(based on individual servings 1 large (3 1/3-inch) cookie sandwich each)
280 calories, 13g total fat
8g saturated fat
0g trans fat
55mg cholesterol
330mg sodium
41g total carbohydrate
2g dietary fiber
4g protein

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