Fig Newtons: do you only eat the original ones?

[Gifted Gourmet]

Cape Cod Online article

Since its creation, this rather humble nosh has risen to stratospheric snack food fame, selling one billion Newtons annually, making it the third most popular cookie in the United States. In recent years, Newtons have diversified somewhat from the original center with raspberry, strawberry and apple fillings, but it is the old fashioned figgy version that still tops the charts today.

I recently had a Cherry Cheesecake Filled Newton that was very sweet but not half bad ...

So, which Newton is your very favorite? Are the fig ones, as the article claims, still the most popular?

[LaurieB]

The original. Only the original for me. None of these newfangled flavors.

[Raynickben]

What is it about the Fig Newton? It is the greatest weird cookie of all time. Really, who would think an obscure fruit like the fig would be so beloved in a cookie? And it has to be a Newton. Fig bars sold under generic brand names are not the same.

Yes, I have tried the other fruit Newtons. Does not compare. Long live the Fig Newton!!

[slkinsey]

Interesting Fig Newton trivia: The Fig Newton is named after the place where I grew up: Newton, Massachusetts. It was originally called just a "Newton" and the "Fig" part was added after the fact because people liked the fig jam filling. The machine that makes Newtons was invented by James Henry Mitchell in 1891, and the Kennedy Biscuit Works started making and selling them around that time.

The fig ones do seem to be the best by far. Figs are an interesting fruit because the dried version still retains a lot of softness. Other fruits (say, blueberries) really aren't all that great when dried to this extent, and need to be treated with too many preservatives. Most of the other Newton variations seem too artificial tasting to me.

[Dejah]

?  And it has to be a Newton.  Fig bars sold under generic brand names are not the same. 

Yes, I have tried the other fruit Newtons.  Does not compare.  Long live the Fig Newton!!

It has to be the original figgy for me, and generics need not apply!

Nothing beats a Newton with cold glass of milk.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Nothing beats a Newton with cold glass of milk.

Guess the description in the article says it all:

a soft pastry cake pillowed around a filling of fig jam

and, put that way, who can even consider an alternative?

[cakewench]

it's not a cookie, it's fruit and CAKE.

(and hell no, I'm not correcting anyone. I was just chanelling the old Fig newton commercial, circa 1987 or so. Don't mind me.)

(and I prefer the Fig, too. I also sometimes gnaw off the edges of the cake bit first, in homage to the way I used to eat them as a kid. )

(done now.)

[Carrot Top]

Nothing beats a Newton with cold glass of milk.

Make that ten fig newtons, please.

I really thought that was going to be the name of this thread..."Do you only eat just one?"

No, no, no...!

[BrentKulman]

Raspberry newtons....yum!

[Gifted Gourmet]

the Fig Newton Toy!

[cakewalk]

When I was a kid, my neighbor was eating these cookies and he offered me one. My parents never bought fig newtons and I didn't know what they were, so I asked him. He said they were cookies filled with chocolate. Well what could be wrong with that? So I took one, expecting a cookie filled with chocolate. Oh my. It was awful. Not because it was really awful, of course, but because it was decidedly NOT a cookie filled with chocolate! I was well into adulthood (*very* well into adulthood) before I could even LOOK at a fig newton again, never mind eat one. They're not too bad. I've never tasted any of the other flavors. But really, why don't they just fill the damned things with chocolate?

[viva]

I make my own fig newtons... it's definitely a lot of fun and a good special cookie (I mean, fruit and cake) for the holidays.

Still love the store-boughts, fig and cranberry flavors, mostly because they're the least sweet of the available options. Newtons and milk

[tsquare]

Dahlia Bakery, Seattle, makes a lovely version. A tad big, a little buttery.

I kind of like the health food version with a whole meal flour "cookie". Stands up well to the fig filling.

[Hest88]

The new ones sound hideous. I only eat the regular ones but I eat the fat-free ones now. They taste exactly the same but no trans-fatty acids.

[LynDel]

I really prefer the original ones

My husband likes all cookies, in all forms and the others aren't so bad, but I much prefer the originals.....

[patti]

There is a Cajun sweet dough pie with fig filling that tastes as good or better than a fig newton. Calling it a pie is a misnomer, though. It's made like a tart and the end result is more cookie/cake like and not flaky like a pie crust. Oh, it's like a Fig Newton!

I've searched all of my Cajun cookbooks to no avail, but online I found these:

http://www.realcajunrecipes.com/recipes/461.rcr

http://pie.allrecipes.com/az/CajunSweetDough.asp

Both recipes are for the sweet dough only and not the fig filling. Other recipes I found were for using the sweet dough as traditional pie crusts, and that is not what the Cajun sweet dough pie is all about.

[davesgrill]

Well, looks like I get to be the odd-ball on this thread. I was never a big fan of the Fig Newton, which pleased my father greatly. More for him. We even had a fig tree in the backyard and, to me, the fruit was nothing more than something to throw at my brother’s head. The really ripe ones had a great splatter factor. So, I was ecstatic when the company introduced other flavors. My favorite would have to be the Apple Newton.

[deibu]

And once, in the 80's, someone came out with the idea for fabulous Grape Newtons. Anybody remember these?

Grape Newtons Commercial

[misstenacity]

Originals - NOT fat free. One of my most favorite running/hiking snacks.

(Although now I'm clued in to the trans-fat problem situation with the non-FF variety, I'll have to investigate further. Its just that I have an instinctual "reject" response to products labeled FF - how can they possibly taste as good?)

Miss Tenacity

http://tenacity.net

[Andrew Fenton]

Interesting Fig Newton trivia:  The Fig Newton is named after the place where I grew up: Newton, Massachusetts.  It was originally called just a "Newton" and the "Fig" part was added after the fact because people liked the fig jam filling.  The machine that makes Newtons was invented by James Henry Mitchell in 1891, and the Kennedy Biscuit Works started making and selling them around that time.

And some more trivia: the Kennedy Biscuit folks named all of their products after places in and around Boston. Unfortunately, their other cookie stylings, with names like "Harvard" and "Beacon Hill", have gone to the great pastry factory in the sky.

(There's also a story that Fig Newtons were named after Sir Isaac Newton- this because the process of creating the cookies was such a work of genius- but it ain't true.)

[Hest88]

(Although now I'm clued in to the trans-fat problem situation with the non-FF variety, I'll have to investigate further. Its just that I have an instinctual "reject" response to products labeled FF - how can they possibly taste as good?)

I'm that way with milk and yoghurt and ice cream and stuff like that containing natural fats, but all bets are off with something so obviously not from nature. Trust me, you really won't notice the lack of fat at all in your FNs.

[The_Rookie]

I'm that way with milk and yoghurt and ice cream and stuff like that containing natural fats, but all bets are off with something so obviously not from nature. Trust me, you really won't notice the lack of fat at all in your FNs.

←

Great. Now I have to go to the store to buy some Fig Newtons. And I better pick up some Nutter-Butters while I'm there.

[StudentChefEclipse]

I sorta like the apple newtons, but they are awfully sweet for my taste.

On a bit of a side note: when I lived in Richmond, VA it was rather hard to get fresh figs. I asked one store's produce manager if it were possible to get fresh figs and his response was, "There are no fresh figs. They all go into making Fig Newtons." And, yes, he was dead serious.

[jetsie]

I rarely eat them, but tend to go for the original and the cranberry flavors. Now I've got the Big Fig Newton jingle stuck in my head.

[misstenacity]

They make BIG Fig Newtons??? Is the fig-to-cake ratio higher?

Yum!

Miss Tenacity

http://tenacity.net