Today, I give you one of my favorite recipes of all time…
Everyone here has heard of Fig Newtons, right? Right. Well, have you ever heard of a blueberry newton? I hate to brag, but it’s just a little something I like to call: genius 🙂
I’m taking a little break from my normal September food fare, such as pumpkin muffins and apple pan pie, to share these incredible treats with you. They’re more than worth it 😉
Confession: I don’t really like figs. Therefore, I don’t really care for Fig Newtons. Now, blueberries….you all know how I feel about blueberries. I love them with a passion. Soooo…I did y’all a favor and invented *ta-da* Blueberry Newtons! The best mini-cookie/bar you will ever have.
Yeah, it’s kinda weird–these newtons taste like cookies, but look like bars. Go figure. So we’ll just go classic here and call them Newtons, which according to Wikipedia, means a pastry filled with a fruit paste, usually ground up figs.
Call ’em what you like. Doesn’t matter to me. What does matter is having these on hand for snack-time on a daily basis. You will have no trouble with that—Not only are these treats crazy-good, but they are unbelievably easy….The cookie dough itself whips up in a mere 5 minutes! Okay, the cookie dough DOES have to be chilled for an hour, (because you have to roll it out), but the beauty of this recipe is that the cookie dough can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days! The cookie dough is just a very basic cookie dough. Only 7 ingredients: Flour. Salt. Baking soda. Safflower oil. Maple syrup. An egg. Vanilla extract. Super simple ingredients, but trust me, the best part is still yet to come!
While your dough is chilling for an hour, you can go ahead and make the blueberry filling/paste. This consists of 2 INGREDIENTS: Dried blueberries. Water…. All ground up in your food processor into a thick paste. That’s it! I was really skeptical when I was first testing out the paste ingredients and I wasn’t really sure water would make the filling nice and pasty. But it did the trick perfectly! It took me about 30 seconds to 1 minute of steady processing to get the filling into a thick paste. You may have to scrape down the sides a few times. {Another time-saver!: The blueberry paste can be stored in the refrigerator up to 4 days!}
See? These lovely little treats are so convenient. You can keep the dough AND the filling in the refrigerator for several days!
Now, filling and assembling the newtons is one of the trickier parts: In fact it’s really the only slightly complicated part of this whole process. But, I have prepared several step-by-step photos that will take you through it easily:
1. Divide chilled dough in half. In between two pieces of parchment-paper, roll out dough to 1/4 in thickness, into a 6 x 12 rectangle.
2. Spread half of prepared blueberry paste on half of dough rectangle, to within 1/2 in of edges.
3. Fold un-spread half of dough over the blueberry paste and pinch edges to seal. Grip edges of parchment paper and transfer the log to a baking sheet. Repeat steps 1-3 with remaining half of dough.
4. Bake logs at 350° 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes, then with a serrated knife, cut into 14 neat squares. Transfer blueberry newtons to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
There! That wasn’t so hard, was it?
I am just in love with these adorable little things. The cookie layer is so soft and vanilla-y and the blueberry filling is ten times better than a fig filling is so chewy and blueberry-y! They make a perrrrfect snack and taste divine with cold milk.
Just a warning: Once you start eating these, you won’t be able to stop.
Have a great week, everyone! I’m leaving for Tennessee, tonight but I’ll still be updating my blog regularly AND I’ll be posting a photo recap after the trip, so stay tuned!
Blueberry Newtons
This recipe may included paid links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
Ingredients
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup safflower oil
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling
- 1 cup dried blueberries
- 1/2 cup cold water
Instructions
- 1. Prepare the dough: In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. In a small bowl, whisk oil, maple syrup, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Combine liquid ingredients with dry and gently stir until a ball of dough forms. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour. (dough can be refrigerated up to 2 days)
- 2. Prepare the filling: Place dried blueberries and water in a food processor, process 30-60 seconds or until filling is smooth and pasty, scraping down sides as necessary. Store in refrigerator until ready to use (filling can be stored in refrigerator up to 4 days.)
- 3. Preheat oven to 350 F. Divide chilled dough in half. Between two sheets of parchment paper, roll half of dough out to 1/4 in thickness into a 6 x 12 rectangle. Spread half of prepared blueberry filling on half of dough rectangle to within 1/2 in of edges. . Fold un-spread half of dough over the blueberry filling and pinch edges to seal. Grip edges of parchment paper and transfer the log to a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining half of dough.
- 4. Bake dough logs in preheated oven 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool logs on pan 10 minutes, then, using a serrated knife, cut each log into 14 neat squares. Transfer blueberry newtons to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- Yield: 28 blueberry newtons
- Store blueberry newtons in refrigerator up to 5 days.
Blueberry Streusel Bars
Berry Mini-Cheesecakes
Blueberry Oatmeal-Streusel Muffins
Fluffy Blueberry-Swirl Sweet Rolls
Annie @ Natural Sweet Recipes says
Those look great!! I am slightly obsessed with blueberries too. 🙂 All of your blueberry goodies look fantastic.:)
Sarah says
Enjoy them! Thank you, Annie 🙂
Alise says
Do you think the same could be done (filling wise) with dried strawberries and water? I love strawberry fig bars as well as the apple cinnamon kind. Trying to figure out how to make them myself to save some money (and yucky additives in my system). Thanks 😀
MamaLeasa says
If I puree, and reduce with cornstarch, do you think I could do this with fresh berries?
All the dried ones I find are loaded with sugar.
Sarah says
Unfortunately, fresh berries have too much juice in them to work in these newtons.
MamaLeasa says
I just made a quick jam, with gelatin and reduced the berries for about 25 minutes with vanilla, fresh ginger and a little brown sugar. So far so good!
Sarah says
Glad to hear it! Good luck. 🙂