THIS ONE IS WHEAT FREE AND SUGAR FREE. A 'regular' version using flour and regular jam fillings is coming soon!
I don't usually buy any cookies and we eat very few as we are not a big 'cookie' or 'sweets' family. I make our sweets from scratch and they are usually 'healthy' versions. One of the cookies I buy once in a great while are Fruit Newtons - blueberry, strawberry or the triple berry whole wheat version. YUM! I decided to try my hand at making them one day but doing it 'healthy' with almond flour and flax meal and no white refined sugar.
Wheat Free and Sugar Free Homemade Fig Newtons - Strawberry Newtons, etc.
2 c almond flour
1/3 c flax meal
1/2 t dried orange peel
dash cinnamon
1 t vanilla
1/3 c almond milk
1/4 c Truvia Sweetener
Jelly or Jam of your choosing; if you want to stay sugar free, use a sugar free jelly or jam.
In a mixer, combine the almond flour, flax, dried orange peel, vanilla, almond milk and sweetener. Add a dash of cinnamon. Taste test. Depending on your sweetener of choice and personal level of sweetness, you may want to add about 1/4 c more.
Combine to form a dough ball. At this point you can roll it immediately or cover and chill in the refrigerator until needed.
Roll the dough on parchment paper or a silpat mat - aiming for a long rectangle about 6 inches wide and as long as you wish.
Spread spoonfuls of jam down the center of your dough.
Use the parchment to help you roll the dough up. You will fold the dough up and over the jam filling with the bottom third. Then repeat and fold over from the top with the last.
Use a pizza cutter to slice 'cookies' or 'newtons' into 1 1/2" - 2" pieces.
Although I tested this recipe two different ways (the dehydrator and the oven) I do not recommend the dehydrator. It takes almost 2 days to cook them that way; much easier to simply bake them and to be honest we liked the texture of the baked cookie better and ended up putting all the dehydrated cookies into the oven and baking them a bit to make them nice and golden with a crisp outside while still being moist inside.
Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes. I baked on parchment paper as I found out the filling gets hot and bubbles out and spills.
Taste test the dough - you want it to be almost a tad too sweet as the sweetness fades in baking
Roll out nice and thin - remember you are making triple layers so it will be thick in the end
I used strawberry preserves - sugar free (quick and easy!)
Use the parchment to help fold up your dough over the filling
Ready to slice into cookies!
I found a knife squished them down too flat but a pizza cut was perfect for slicing
You can slice as large as you wish. I did about 1 1/2"
I tested dehydrating verses baking - we overwhelmingly prefer baking
