Oatmeal & Fig Butter Cookies

Trader Joe's fig butter is Jake's favorite jam to have on his PB & J sandwiches.  If you haven't tried this stuff yet, run out right now next time you are at Trader Joe's, pick some up.

As I was making him a PB & J the other day I was staring at the deliciously sweet concoction that is fig butter and thought to myself that it would be really good with an oatmeal cookie.  After a couple of weeks, I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I decided to try making one.

I started with my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe.  Cream butter, brown sugar and sugar.  Then beat in an egg, some vanilla, and some milk.

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Since I was feeling a little spicy, I added some cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom too.  If you don't have cardamom on hand, these will still be delicious so don't buy some just because, but if you do, it really adds something wonderful.  Then add to the wet ingredients.  I'm lazy and wanted to make less dishes so I just sifted it directly into the bowl.

Then add your (quick cook) oats.

Now for the fun part, add in some fig butter and try not to drool over the sweet, almost honey like scent.  If you don't have a Trader Joe's these would probably be great with fig jam instead, but that tends to have more sugar so I would cut back on the sugar in the cookies a bit.

As you can see, the fig butter gives it a dark, almost gingerbread like color.  Yum, yum.  The dough will be sticky (you just mixed in a bunch of jam) so I highly recommend using a cookie scoop if you have one.  If not, a couple of spoons will work just fine.

Once you have it all scooped out, bake them at 350 for about 12 minutes.  They will spread quite a bit so make sure you have plenty of space between them.  The ones on the left were a little too close together and joined up a bit.  Even though they end up really thin, they are super soft and moist, not crispy at all.  They really are fabulous.  These are about a million times better than a fig newton (although I do like those).  Enjoy!

Oatmeal & Fig Butter Cookies

Adapted from the Joy of Cooking Quick Oatmeal Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter 
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tbls. milk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. cardamom
• 1 cup uncooked quick cook oats
• 1/2 cup fig butter

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Cream butter.  Then add sugar and brown sugar and cream well.
3. Beat in egg, vanilla, and milk.
4. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom and add to the butter mixture.
5. When beaten smooth add oats and mix until combined.
6. Add the fig butter and mix until well combined.
7. Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop cookies about 2 to 2 1/2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes.
8. Let cool about 3 minutes on the cookie sheet, then slide the parchment paper onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

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