If you’ve read my previous posts, you know I love snacks…particularly afternoon tea snacks. I don’t discriminate between fancy (finger sandwiches and mini pastries) and casual (cookies and crackers)–I’ll happily eat them all. Long before I learned how to bake my own treats, I satisfied my after-school snack cravings with a plethora of pre-packaged cookies. Early favorites were the British “bickies” and Danish butter cookies my maternal grandparents stocked in their pantry. To this day, give me some chocolate-dipped wholemeal bickies and I’m a happy camper.

I’m not sure if it was because they were always on sale or if discount coupons were plentiful or if she just liked them best, but my mom favored the Mother’s brand of cookies–chocolate chip, trio pack, Neopolitan sugar wafer cookies, or frosted circus animals–so we tended to have those around. Very rarely did she buy Oreos. And only occasionally did mom buy the “real” Nabisco Fig Newtons because Mother’s made their own version, which, in my opinion, weren’t quite as good. They weren’t as soft and moist…didn’t give me those “fruit and cake” vibes.

At some point, mom started buying the “healthier” fig bars made with whole wheat flour, and I stopped enjoying them all together.

The denser texture and drier crumb rubbed me the wrong way, not unlike the first time I was served a turkey sandwich on multi-grain bread with alfalfa sprouts at a “health” restaurant my aunt dragged us to (this was the 70s). My seven-year-old self vociferously rebelled against that assault on my palate. It wasn’t until my college years in Santa Cruz that I willingly attempted to eat another whole grain fig bar, which I chalk up to peer pressure. That didn’t last long though, because what I really wanted to do was to sink my teeth into a legit Nabisco Fig Newton.

Ironically, when I finally allowed myself to simply buy a package of the “real” thing, I discovered that I actually only wanted a couple of bars. I didn’t need nor did I want to consume an entire package. Once I got past the first two or three bars, I was good. They were tasty but a tad one-dimensional, so I think my palate got tired of them rather quickly. I wasn’t even interested in going back for more at a later date. Subsequently, whenever I got nostalgic for the O.G. Fig Newtons, I’d just buy a small snack-size pack to satisfy that random, infrequent craving.

Cut to many years later….and I’m a pastry chef at Scala’s Bistro. My assistants and I decided to play around with our own gourmet version of Fig Newton to add to our dessert cookie sampler. We came up with a soft, not too sweet cookie dough flavored with orange and lemon zest, vanilla, and a touch of honey. The filling was a combination of slow-cooked fresh figs and dried figs (to give it body), spiked with a little booze. And, what do you know…I became a fan of Fig Newtons again!

To be sure, there are instances where the original, mass-produced snack food is untouchable on the level of taste and nostalgia, like Doritos and Oreos for example. However, I would argue many snacks can definitely use a homemade redo. The popularity of gourmet copycat recipes on social media and YouTube is a testament to that theory.

Remaking an elevated or more gourmet version of Newtons is well worth the effort. As I mentioned before, the cakey cookie exterior of the original is on the bland side, while the filling is merely sweet and chewy, not especially “figgy” in flavor. The version we made for our cookie plate (not to toot our own horn too much) was on a whole other level–full of complexity and true fig flavor–so delicious the staff would scramble to get their hands on the offcuts.

Recently, I featured a Roasted Plum Newton in the bake sale treat box that was a big hit. I flavored the cakey cookie with hints of cardamom and cinnamon to compliment the orange and honey. Roasting the plums with their skin on imparted just the right amount of tartness (not to mention gorgeous color) to balance out the sweetness from the vanilla sugar, dried plum, and dried apricot.

Par for course, I made way more filling than I needed for a single batch of Newtons–enough for another two more batches to be exact. Rather than repurpose the filling for something completely different, I decided to play around with the dough recipe to transform the Newton into a slightly more nutritious breakfasty snack (think gourmet Nutrigrain bar).

Unlike the dense, somewhat cardboardy whole wheat fig bars of yesteryear, this would be a soft, tender, craveable fruit bar that could be eaten as a mid-morning breakfast “bar” or afternoon snack. To achieve a good balance of taste, texture, and nutrition, I subbed out only about a third of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat but added some flax meal for a little more fiber and protein. To mask the cracks in the dough (I overfilled a tad) I sprinkled the formed bar strips with a mixture of rolled oats, vegetable oil, and maple syrup, which provided more texture, as well as fiber and nutrients.

On the second go-around, I switched up the filling, enticed by a deal on sweet cherries at the Asian market (.59 per pound!) too amazing to pass up. Here’s a pro tip: to avoid messy cleanups and juice spatter on your clothing (and/or the walls), aim your pitter inside a plastic bag.

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The cherries were on the smaller side, which was fine for making the filling, especially when the fruit itself got mashed and cooked down. I threw in a couple of tablespoons of chia seeds to both help thicken the juices and add protein, and flavored the cherries with a little lemon juice, vanilla, and amaretto.

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In hindsight, I should’ve added more dried tart cherries to firm up the filling so that the strips wouldn’t spread quite so much during the bake. Oh well, I’m not hating on the fat bars.

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I’m still fine-tuning the fillings to get the right thickness (it varies from fruit to fruit), which should ideally have the stiffness of say cream cheese. But I think the dough itself has the right combination of soft tender cakey texture and robust, pleasantly nutty flavor from the whole wheat, flax, and oats. It provides a great base to wrap around an endless array of fruit fillings for a satisfying snack (or breakfast).

“Newton” (aka Breakfast Bar) Dough

Yield: about 2 dozen generously sized bars

• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
• 2 T. flax meal
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• pinch of cardamom or nutmeg
• 3/4 t. baking soda
• 3/8 t. kosher salt
• 10 T. unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 c. light brown sugar
• 2 T. honey
• 3 large yolks
• 1 T. whole milk
• 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 1 t. orange zest
• 1 t. lemon zest

1. Whisk together the first 7 ingredients and set aside.
2. Cream together butter, sugar, and honey until fluffy, then beat in yolks.
3. Mix in about half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Add the milk, vanilla, and zests. Mix in the remaining dry ingredients to form dough.
4. Transfer the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and pat out into square shape. Wrap up the dough. With a rolling pin, flatten out the dough out into a neat packet and chill for at least 1 hr. before using.
5. For bars, roll dough out to about 13″ x 9.” 1/8″ thickness between 2 sheets of parchment paper, lightly dusted with flour. Square off the edges. divide into 4 equal strips.
6. Transfer the parchment and dough strips onto a sheet pan.
7. To form the bars, pipe or spoon a 1 1/4″ wide strip of thick fruit filling down the center. Fold the two sides of dough towards the middle to seal in filling. Sprinkle the surface liberally with oat topping.
8. Chill the filled dough strips in the freezer for at least 30 mins. before baking. Arrange the strips to allow about 2 1/2″ between each one.
9. Bake strips in a preheated 375F degree oven for 16-18 mins. or until the edges begin to brown and the surface is a light golden.
10. Cut each strip into 6-7 pieces while it is still warm.

Oat Topping

• 2 c. rolled oats
• 2 T. vegetable or neutral oil
• pinch of kosher salt
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• 2 T. maple syrup

Toss together to fully coat oats.