Fig and Walnut Cookies

You know I am a teacher and very busy at school, that’s why I can’t write here as much as I want. We’ve started to count down for the end of the school. Courses are going to be completed after 3 weeks and then exams start. We have two terms each year, Fall and Spring terms. We have different students each term and today I will share a recipe that one of my students from Fall term gave me.

On the last day of Fall term, we organized a small party with students in one of classes. Students agree that everyone would bring something to eat. I made lentil balls for them. I hadn’t made that many before (for about 30 people), so I was a bit suspicious about the result. Fortunately, it was great! Every student brought something they themselves or their moms made. And these cookies, made by a student’s mom, were one of my favorites. Although her mom wasn’t in the same city with us, she was so kind to make and send them to us. As my student saw how I loved these cookies, she called her mom and got the recipe and gave me the following day.

I tried the recipe last week and here is the result. These cookies are crispy outside but softer inside. When you touch one of them, you think it’s as hard as stone but when you have a bite, you see it’s not. Figs inside made it softer and as I love to eat figs and walnuts together, these cookies were perfect for me.

More than 30 cookies came out of these measurements, but I could keep them for 4 days. They were still so yummy on the last day. But I must warn you; these are so addictive! I made some of them big and some of them as small as marbles. I couldn’t take photo of the small cookies as we ate them all in that evening and night with various people.

We planned to got to cinema on the day I made these, and hubby told me to put some cookies in a paper bag and to put them in my bag. Can you believe that? He loves to snack while watching a movie, generally pop corn or some crackers and this time we took our own snacks to the movie theater. The small versions were better to take with me and I put a lot of marble like cookies as I couldn’t predict how many we could eat. It may sound crazy but I must tell that it was amazing to eat our cookies while watching the movie!

We met two friends after the movie and went to a pub together. You might guess what happened later. Yes we shared the cookies left with that couple. Then when we were waiting for our orders, I saw that one of my ex students was coming to our table with 4 glasses of beer. I learnt that he was working there part time. And I offered the rest of the cookies to him. He gladly took and shared them with the other waiters. They all thanked with a big smile and with yum yum sounds. Do I sound like the witch in the fairy tale called Hansel and Gretel? You know these little children were taken in by her foods.

So here is the recipe of witchy cookies.

Fig and Walnut Cookies

• Author: zerrin
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 2

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 cup walnut, crumbled
• 8 dried figs, finely chopped
• 4 cups flour

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven at 170C.
2. Mix all the ingredients except flour with your hands.
3. Add flour at the end and combine all of them well.
4. Shape them in your palms. Their size is up to you.
5. Flatten them a bit. Lay the parchment paper in a baking sheet. Place the cookies on it and bake them until they’re golden about 20 minutes. Wait them on the tray for 5 minutes more after taking them out of oven. Then take them on wire rack.
6. You can keep these cookies in closed containers at room temperature for a few days.