Fig Newton Hamentaschen: An archaeological exploration
We're digging into the recesses of historical traditions, and my own childhood memories for this recipe.
Without much preamble, this dual-purpose recipe is courtesy of the incredible and creative Smitten Kitchen.
The recipe source: https://smittenkitchen.com/2018/04/fig-newtons/
Dairy-free field notes:
1. I followed the author's recommendations to whip the room temperature "butter" and sugar together for the recommended 5 minute's duration. Indeed, I did observe a qualitative change in texture as documented below. However, I do wonder if there is a textural difference between how dairy and dairy-free butter whip and subsequent baking results.
Figure 1. Just mixed. Figure 2. 5 minutes later.
2. Nevertheless, I persisted with mixing the rest of the ingredients, and chilling the dough before rolling out.
Figure 3. All shook up. Figure 4. Laid out to rest. Figure 5. Ready to chill.
3. After the dough was done chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool, I rolled out the dough. I found it a quite loose and sticky. I persisted with shaping and filling some hamentaschen, but ultimately added quite a few successive pinches of flour to the dough with better results. To the recipe author's credit, it's possible I mis-measured my flour, but it is possible that there were some qualitative differences between the butter in the original recipe and the dairy free alternative I used.
Fig 6. Cutting out the dough with a glass. Fig 7. Adding fig filling, always less than you think.
Fig 8-9. Note the textural differences in the dough. The smoother the dough, the more flour I had added at that point.
4. Since I was only using a portion of the remaining dough, I loosely followed the directions to shape the rest of the dough into a log filled with the fig filling, and cut it immediately after baking. It was more difficult than it sounded, more enormous than my memories, but also delicious.
Figure 10. Giant Fig Newtons.
5. The fig filling is naturally dairy free. But since my home kitchen is a little more limited, and I am still replenishing supplies after losing power two weekends in a row, I used apple juice instead of orange juice, and clementine zest instead of orange zest. It still tastes spot on! I used my blender as I do not have food processor, which required a lot of patience and silencing while I was on the phone. In the end, I could not get the pipe-able texture recommended but I was able to easily spoon it onto the cookie dough. It was more than enough, and now I have some to spread on toast and make yogurt parfaits.
Figure 11. Probably better than figgy pudding? Dare I say charoset inspiration?
Product link:
Dairy free margarine: https://www.kroger.com/p/imperial-vegetable-oil-sticks/0001111587132?fulfillment=PICKUP&storecode=01800365&&cid=shp_adw_shopl_.FY23.01_search_ent_conv_lia_corelia_kroger_g_lia_shop_acq_evgn_ship_all_roas_dairy+%26+eggs&gclid=Cj0KCQiAx6ugBhCcARIsAGNmMbiUKnCnFjvPk3OOMDnircijSdtZa7-jqgdr-RBeMJ1GOITIh4h9Z3QaAuYFEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
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