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It's holiday time -

Mama Mangia

Super Moderator
Let's talk about FIGS!

Oh yeah! Love figs!

Anyone else enjoy figs??

C'mon - share those great fig recipes!!
 
Sugar-Crusted Figs

1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 pounds figs -- fresh, stemmed
1-1/4 cups sugar -- superfine
1 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine water and 1 tablespoon vanilla in a 1-cup measuring cup. Dip each fresh fig in mixture, and dredge in superfine sugar, coating each thickly. Place figs into lightly greased individual shallow baking dishes. Bake at 425 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes. Combine whipping cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla; beat at high speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Spoon mixture over warm figs. Yield: 4 servings.
 
Fig Newton Bars

DOUGH:
1 c. Butter
3 eggs
1 tbsp. Lemon juice
2 c. Brown sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
4 c. Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Soda
1 tsp. Baking powder

Mix butter, eggs, lemon juice, brown sugar, and vanilla well. Add flour, salt, soda, and baking powder. Mix well and chill.

FIG FILLING:
1-1/2 c. Ground figs (1 lb. Whole figs) or dates and/or raisins
1 c. Water
3/4 c. Sugar
3 tbsp. Flour
1/4 c. Nuts
2 tbsp. Orange juice

Boil figs and water 5 minutes. Blend in sugar, flour, nuts, orange juice. Cook until thick. Cool. Roll half to 18 x 12 x 1/8 inch rectangle. Cut into 4 strips 3 inches wide. Put cooled filling down center of strip. Fold each side over. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.
 
I got this from a friend - I want to make it -

Fig-Filled Pastry

1 pkg. figs, ground
1 1/4 c. sugar
3 c. flour
1 tsp. lemon extract
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. shortening
1 egg
1/2 c. milk

Mix figs, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and lemon extract in saucepan; cook until thick.
Sift re- maining flour, cream of tartar, soda and nutmeg to- gether.
Cream shortening and remaining sugar; beat in egg.
Add flour mixture alternately with milk.
Stir to make easily handled dough.
Divide dough in 2 parts; roll each part to fit cookie sheet.
Place half the dough on cookie sheet; spread with fig filling.
Cover filling with remaining dough.
Seal edges; cut steam vents.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.
 
Fig and Walnut Cookies

Pastry Dough:
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature

Filling and Cookies:
9 ounces dried Mission figs, stems discarded
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup honey
1/3 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 large egg, beaten to blend


For the pastry dough: Whisk the eggs and vanilla in a small bowl to blend. Mix the flour, sugar, lemon zest, and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub in with your fingers until the butter is the size of small peas. Add the egg mixture and mix with a fork until the dough comes together. Gather the dough into a ball. Divide the dough in 2 and flatten into disks. Wrap the dough disks in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.


Meanwhile, for the filling and cookies: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.


Line 2 heavy large baking sheets with parchment paper. Finely chop the figs and raisins in a food processor. Add the honey, orange juice, cinnamon, and lemon zest, and pulse just to blend. Scrape the fig mixture into a medium bowl. Stir in the walnuts. Transfer the fruit mixture to a pastry bag.


Roll out 1 disk of dough on a floured work surface to 1/8 to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 2 1/2-inch diameter biscuit cutter, cut out dough rounds. Gather the dough scraps into a disk, then cover and refrigerate while assembling the cookies. Spoon the fruit mixture in the center of each dough round. Lightly moisten the edges of the dough with the egg wash. Fold the dough over the filling and press the edges to seal. Arrange the cookies evenly apart on the prepared baking sheets. Brush the tops of the cookies with egg wash. Bake until the cookies are pale golden, about 18 minutes.


Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and cool completely. Repeat with the refrigerated dough scraps and remaining filling.
 
Italian Fig Cookies

Filling:
2 cups dried figs, hard tips discarded
1 1/2 cups dried dates, pitted
1 cup raisins
3/4 cup whole almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped
3/4 cup whole walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brandy
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange zest
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

For Dough:
4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 egg white beaten with 1 tablespoon water for egg wash
Colored sprinkles, for decorating
Directions
To make the filling, in a food processor, combine the figs, dates and raisins and process to finely chop. Place the mixture in a medium bowl, add remaining filling ingredients and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

To make the dough, in a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and whisk to combine. Add the butter and blend with your fingertips until most of mixture resembles coarse meal.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg, milk and vanilla together. Add to the dry mixture and stir to make a rough dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Cut the dough into 4 pieces, cover, and refrigerate for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 large baking sheets.

On a lightly floured surface, one at a time, roll out each piece of dough into a 12-inch square. Cut the dough into 4 by 3-inch rectangles. Spoon 2 tablespoons of filling down the center of each rectangle. Fold the long sides of each rectangle inward to the center to enclose the filling; pinch the edges to seal. Turn the cookies seam-sides down and press gently to flatten the seams. With a floured knife, cut the logs crosswise into 1 1/2-inch-wide slices and arrange 1/2-inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Brush with egg wash and decorate with colored sprinkles. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Transfer to wire racks to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.
 
I love figs- fresh or dried- on cheese trays. I particularly enjoy them w/ a wedge of gorgonzola- or any bleu- and a drizzle of honey- either heated or room temp. Talk about satisfyingly rich! YUM!
 
Fig Recipes

Try Valley Fig Growers website for a bonanza of fig recipes.
 
High Energy "Survival" Bars

1 pound pitted dates
1 pound figs
1 pound raisins
1 cup cashew pieces
1 cup sesame seeds
1 cup peanut butter

Mix all ingredients except for peanut butter through a meat grinder.
Add peanut butter and mix well.
Roll out into 1/2 inch thick sheets.
Cut into bars and wrap well.

Makes 60 2-ounce bars.

Source: High Energy "Survival" Bars - 56932 - Recipezaar

-----------------------------------
Fig Jam

2 quarts chopped figs - (abt 5 lbs)
6 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice

To prepare chopped figs, cover figs with boiling water. Let stand 10 minutes. Drain, stem and chop figs.

Combine figs, sugar, and 3/4 cup water in a large sauce pot. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cook rapidly until thick. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. Add lemon juice and cook 1 minute longer.

Pour hot into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Adjust caps. Process 15 minutes in boiling water bath.

This recipe yields 5 pints.
 
We don't seem to do a lot with figs over here. We have fig rolls which are figs rolled up in a short crust pastry. Christmas time they are on the shelves, in a dried muddle, packaged next to the sticky dates.

I fancy I have had fresh figs, but they could not have made much of an impact as I cannot clearly remember the taste.
 
Mama, I haven't any really good fig recipes to share, but I do love me some figs... fresh or dried.
 
High Energy "Survival" Bars

1 pound pitted dates
1 pound figs
1 pound raisins
1 cup cashew pieces
1 cup sesame seeds
1 cup peanut butter

Mix all ingredients except for peanut butter through a meat grinder.
Add peanut butter and mix well.
Roll out into 1/2 inch thick sheets.
Cut into bars and wrap well.

Makes 60 2-ounce bars.

Source: High Energy "Survival" Bars - 56932 - Recipezaar

-----------------------------------

Canman's Survival Bars remind me of Roseanne (Barr) Arnold's recipe for "Trail Mix". in her stand-up routine she said: "Take a bag of peanut M&M's and a bag of plain M&M's and then an extra-large bags of Cheetos and mix them all in a clean tote bag. If THAT don't get your big azz up over those hills- I don't know WHAT will!" :)
 
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