Fig Rolls

This is a great snack to munch on and very good with a cup of tea. Very easy and simple to make. Found this yummy treat in one of Reader's Digest's book of recipes, "Baking With Love". 

The recipes states that the dough is to be rolled to a rectangle of 20x6 inches in size. I only managed to roll it to about 16x6in, as I feel that rolling it further will result in a very thin dough, and am afraid that it might break when I fold in over the filling. I used salted butter, as I think that it gives a better taste to the dough. Of course,  a little salt may be added if unsalted butter is used.

The sweetness is just right as the fig is already sweetened, so there was no need for additional sugar in the filling.

I enjoyed this with a cup of warm tea.  

I'm sharing this with 

Cookbook Sundays over at Brenda's Canadian Kitchen

Full Plate Thursday over at Miz Helen's Country Cottage
Recipe Swap Thursday over at Prairie Story
Sweets For A Saturday over at Sweet As Sugar Cookies
Aspiring Bakers #5 : Fruity March (March 2011)

Fig Rolls
(adapted from "Baking With Love" by Reader's Digest)
Makes 20
Ingredients
125gm (1 cup/4-1/2 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
110gm (3/4 cup/3-3/4 oz) plain wholemeal (all-purpose whole-wheat) flour
160gm (2/3 cup/5-1/2 oz) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
65gm (1/3 cup/2-1/4 oz) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (extract)
2 egg yolks
250gm (1-1/3 cups/9 oz) ready-to-eat dried figs, finely chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice (I use only 1-1/2 tbsps)

1. Use a large baking tray; grease. Sift flours into a mixing bowl, tipping in any bran left in the seive. Rub in butter with fingertips until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, vanilla essence and egg yolks; mix to a firm dough; add 1-2 tsp water, if needed. Combine ingredients in a food processor, if preferred. Wrap in cling wrap; chill for 30 minutes.
2. Place figs and 6 tbsp water in a small, heavy-based pan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for 3-5 minutes or until figs have plumped up slightly and absorbed the water. Transfer to a bowl and mash lightly with a fork to break up the pieces. Stir in lemon juice and leave to cool.
3. Preheat oven to 190C (375F, gas mark 5). Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a rectangle 50x15cm(20x6 in). Cut dough in half lengthwise to make 2 strips.
4. Spoon half the the mashed figs evenly along each strip, close to one of the long sides. Bring the opposite long side up and over the filling to form a log shape; press edges of dough together to seal.
5. Slightly flatten each of the logs. Using a sharp knife, cut each log into 10 even pieces and transfer to the baking tray. Prick each piece several times with a fork. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the pastry is slightly darkened in colour.
6. Transfer fig rolls to a wire rack to cool. They can be kept in an airtight container for 2-3 days. Do not mix them with other cookies or they may soften.

(my notes : It took about 25 minutes for the fig rolls to brown)