Fruit Roll Cookie Fun

This is perhaps one of my favorites and the most exciting by far. GIANT Newton Cookies? How could that be anything but awesome. They are delicious and versatile, I bet they could be made a million ways. I just discovered this wonderful cookie dough last night through experimentation and I love it. I am going to call the cookie dough "Anything And Everything Cookies" because so many things can be done with this dough. Just in this single batch, I made these Giant Fruit Filled Roll Cookies and a batch of Over-Stuffed Thumb-Print Cookies. I had no problems rolling this dough out, no problems with this dough sticking and that is usually one of the biggest pitfalls of wheat/grain/gluten free baking.

Not only that but they have got a great texture once baked. Let me try to describe it, in the Fruit Filled Roll Cookies the texture is soft, very, very similar to a newton cookie. It holds up well as long as you aren't squishing or being otherwise rough with the Fruit Filled Roll Cookies, in other words, a toddler might have this squished all over them but an older child or adult could easily and fairly mess free, hold these in their hands and enjoy bite after bite of their deliciousness. The texture of the same dough baked into Thumb-Print Cookies is sturdy yet soft, it melts in your mouth and both versions offer a very satisfying bite. At the end of this I will include a picture of the Thumb-Print Version as well as some notes, ideas and suggestions for anyone interested in trying to make these. Now... what you've all been waiting for.... the recipe!

Fruit Filled Roll Cookies:
Prepare dough and filling or filling of choice.

Anything And Everything Cookie Dough:
3/4 Cup Tapioca Flour
1/2 Cup Coconut Flour
1/4 Cup Almond Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 Teaspoon Sea Salt
1/2 Cup Maple Syrup OR Honey, Agave OR other similar Syrup of choice.
1/8 Teaspoon Molasses
1/4 Cup Melted Butter OR Butter Substitute OR Oil of choice if doing Dairy Free.
2 Eggs OR Flax/Chia Eggs if doing Egg Free

In a medium to large bowl, add Tapioca Flour, sift in the Coconut Flour and Baking Soda. Add Almond Flour, Sea Salt and mix dry ingredients thoroughly. In a medium bowl whisk the Syrup, Molasses, Butter and Eggs until well combined and almost completely uniform in color. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir together with a wooden spoon. The dough should begin to form a ball, mix well and fold dough into itself a couple times. Refrigerate the dough for 2 to 24, I left mine in the fridge for about 12 hours before I began making my cookies.

Raisin Date Filling:
1/2 Cup Raisins
4-8 Dates, Pitted
1-3 Tablespoons Water

Place Raisins and Dates in the food processor, process until chunky. Add Water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, pureeing and checking consistency in between each addition because you want it to be somewhat paste-like or jam-like.

Preparing Fruit Filled Roll Cookies:
After dough is chilled thoroughly, remove from fridge and place between two sheets of parchment paper. With a rolling pin, roll dough out to about 1/8th inch thick and remove top layer of parchment paper. Cut trim edges to make a oblong rectangle of whatever size you wish. Also, just because mine were giant doesn't mean you couldn't divide the dough in half to make ones more newton size if you wish. Whatever size you decide, just have it rolled out about 1/8th inch thick, trim the edges but make it twice as wide as you want your cookie. Spread the filling or whatever filling you use on half of the sheet of cookie dough, leaving about a 1/4-1/2 inch naked edge to seal them shut with. Once filling is spread, using the parchment paper to help you, fold one half over the other, I suggest folding the empty half over the side with the filling. Seal all edges, including ends shut to help prevent filling from spilling out during baking. Just seal the edges by pressing them together and smoothing out the seam, nothing special, no egg white or any stickiness needed.

Baking Instructions:
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Bake Fruit Filled Roll Cookies in whole roll form for 12-14 minutes, mine baked 13 minutes exactly but all oven temperatures and times vary. Slice Fruit Filled Roll Cookies to any desired size after baking and cooling slightly. Mine were not hot but still warm when I sliced them. If you chose to just roll the chilled dough into 1-inch balls for Thumb-Print Cookies. I rolled mine, slightly flattened and then made a depression in the center. I filled them with a dollop of the Raisin Date Filling and baked them at 350 degrees for 9 minutes. So the baking time on them would be about 7-11 minutes at 350 degrees.

Notes And Suggestions:
You could fill either of these cookie types with 100% Pure Fruit Preserves, Jam, Jelly or Spread OR Nut or Seed Butters of any kind. The Thumb-Print Cookies might be good with Chocolate or Carob in the depressions. I bet you could fill both cookies with just about anything. Be creative! If you are going to fill them with a nut or seed butters, you may want to do this after baking. You could also just make the dough into plain cookies if you roll them out and flatten them with a fork or spoon. You could then Chocolate or Carob dip half the cookie and lay them out on parchment paper to firm OR drizzle with Chocolate or Carob. You could also bake them plain and spread them with whatever you'd like to personalize each cookie after baking. There's Frostings, Butter, Coconut Butter, Nut or Seed Butters, Jams or Fruit Spreads, etc. OR maybe put a small scoop of ice cream between two cookies and try it like an ice cream sandwich. Another thing you could consider is adding items to the dough and baking them that way, for instance Chocolate or Carob chip, raisins, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, etc. Or you could also possibly try rolling them out on parchment paper and using cookie cutters to make shaped cookies, the dough held up so well, I think it could probably handle it. The possibilities are endless, let your imaginations run wild, explore, have fun!

Happy, healthy baking to one and all!

Update: (2-12-2012) I made these again and used Apple-Pear filling this time, I simply simmered Apples and Pears, pureed and sweetened them and then thickened it with some Tapioca Starch. It was a bit thinner than my first filling but still delicious! I'll add more photos for reference.

This is me rolling out my dough, cutting the edges smooth, on the left and then on the right I re-rolled the dough slightly and added my Apple-Pear Filling.
This is just prior to rolling over and sealing the edges to form the cookie roll.
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On the left is already baked and sliced roll cookies and on the right are the Apple-Pear Thumb-Print Cookies that I make with the left over dough from this. You could do more rolls but my Mother is particularly fond of the thumb-prints so I make plenty of those as well.

I participated in the Nutritious and Delicious Blog Hop!
Linked to Make Your Own! Monday.