Rustic Fig Newtons

I have been a big admirer of The Pioneer Woman for quite some time now. I would just love to live her life. She has a commercial for her Food Network show where she states that if a recipe doesn't quite turn out like she planned, she calls it "rustic" and moves on. I have thoroughly embraced that idea. After years of following Martha and more recently Pinterest, there are just too many images of perfectly executed recipes out there. I am far from a chef and embracing this idea of "oh look, it's rustic" has helped me cope with some of my less-than-stunning creations.  These fig newtons are a classic example.
I got the recipe from Brave Tart, using the simplified ingredient list at The Faux Martha.  Check them out for the actual recipe specifics.

Lots of ingredients for this recipe, but I already had everything except for the figs.

To start the cookie/cake, I creamed the butter, sugar, baking soda, honey, cinnamon, vanilla and orange zest.

The butter needs to be soft. This is key.

Then goes in egg yolks, one at a time, and then the flour and finally some orange juice. The mixer needs to stay on while all this happens.

I wrapped the dough up and put in the fridge overnight to chill.

To make the filling, I diced up some figs as small as I could.

I added the applesauce, honey, cinnamon and orange zest. I don't have a food processor, so this is where I whipped out my handy masher... and I got a little busy mashing and forgot to take a picture. It took a while, but I ended with a pretty nice, but chunky, puree. A rustic puree, if you will.

 Then I rolled out the dough into rectangles and put down some of the puree.

I folded one half over the top and then rolled the whole log over to seal it with the double layer seam on the bottom.

The recipes called for baking them for about 12 minutes, but I baked mine for about 16 until they seemed done and then cut them into cookies.

They didn't turn out as pretty as I'd hoped, but they taste delicious. I'm calling them rustic and moving on. My taste buds can't tell the difference.