Baked Figs

Baked Figs
fresh figs, tough top and bottom cut off, halved
sweet citrus spice syrup (see )
phyllo pastry
egg wash, water, oil, or melted butter

Toss the fig halves in the syrup until well coated. Lay a sheet of phyllo pastry out, brush with egg wash, butter, or oil (whatever you find tastes the best and sticks the best) and repeat with a few more sheets. Place one fig half (with some syrup) on top and wrap it, closing up the pastry in whatever shape desired and securing with a little or egg or butter or oil. Place pastries on a parchment-lined baking tray and bake at 350◦F for a few minutes until lightly browned and crisp. Serve warm or at room temperature, with some extra syrup to dip if desired.

This is a quick recipe I came up with to go with baklava when I had some extra ingredients. It makes an easy, different not too-sweet dessert or an interesting addition to a cheese platter.

Autumn Muffins

These spicy, flavorful, moist muffins have some nice harvest flavors of apples, cranberries, dried fruit, nuts and spices. They are a different muffin but definitely delicious and certainly a nice flavor of fall. They may not look that presentable, but they certainly smell good during baking. 

Autumn Muffins
3 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
3/4 cup granulated (white) sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup melted butter or margarine
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups milk
1 cup chopped, peeled apple
1 cup fresh, frozen, or dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped dried figs, dates, or raisins
3/4 cup chopped (toasted) nuts, optional

Preheat oven to 375◦F. Grease or line muffin cups.
In a large bowl, stir together the first nine dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add the butter, eggs, and milk. Stir in remaining ingredients. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Rum Butter Sauce

Yesterday I showed you the figgy pudding I made for Christmas. Today I am going to share with you the rum butter sauce I served with it. It turns out figgy pudding, much like fruit cake, does get a bit better with age, but it gets even better with a sauce. This is a simple, quick sauce that can be whipped up in a matter of minutes. It will keep well in the refrigerator for a number of days, but it isn't likely there will be any leftovers. The sauce is best served warm, so it is a good idea to whip up a batch every time you serve figgy pudding. This recipe makes a small batch, but it could easily be doubled or tripled to serve more. Here is the recipe.

Rum Butter Sauce
3 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1-2 Tablespoons rum (light and dark both work well)
1 Tablespoon milk or cream

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar and cook for 2-3 minutes until slightly thickened. Add the rum and milk, heat until bubbly, cook for 3-5 minutes until bubbling subsides and sauce has thickened. Serve immediately.

Here is a recipe for an alternate hard sauce for figgy pudding. It does not require cooking, and it makes a lot more, so it will feed a crowd. It also contains a lot more liquor that has not been boiled off, so it is a lot stronger.

Creamy Rum Sauce
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups icing sugar
2 cups dark rum or brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the sugar, mixing at low speed. Add the rum and vanilla.

Figgy Pudding

Figgy Pudding is not just a made up food sung about in a popular Christmas carol, it is actually a real traditional Christmas dessert. Every year at Christmastime, my grandfather asks for figgy pudding, so this year I decided to make it for him. I had never had figgy pudding before, so I didn't really know what to expect, or have any ideas of what figgy pudding 'should' be like. There are many many recipes for figgy pudding to be found online, but for my first attempt, I decided to stick with a fairly basic and easy recipe. Normally figgy pudding is baked in a large bundt or tube pan, but I decided to make mini figgy puddings. I used a special mini cake pan to give the figgy puddings an attractive appearance. I made six of them, and I poured the leftover batter into six muffin cups to make small figgy pudding muffins. This worked out quite well, they baked very nicely and in half of the time as one large figgy pudding would. The muffins took slightly less time to bake than the mini cakes.

Most figgy pudding recipes begin with figs, of course, and also contain molasses, spices, eggs, butter, flour, and milk. Some recipes contain other fruit additions, such as raisins, dates, and even chopped cherries. Some contain nuts or chocolate. Some use dry breadcrumbs instead of flour. I even came across one recipe that was made with pumpkin puree. The recipe I used was fairly basic, and used figs and raisins. Figgy pudding is also commonly served with a pouring sauce, usually a custard sauce or a hard sauce, often flavored with dark rum. Although figgy pudding is very good on its own, sauce takes it to another dimension.  

Figgy Pudding
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 cup molasses
2 cups total chopped figs and raisins
(I used about 1 1/4 cups figs and 3/4 cup raisins)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon rind (optional)
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Preheat oven to 325◦F. Grease a 9-inch tube pan or miniature cake pans or muffin cups.

In a large bowl, beat the butter until soft. Add the eggs and molasses and beat until fluffy. Add figs, raisins, lemon rind, and buttermilk.

In a separate medium bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients. Add to the wet ingredients and mix well. Pour into prepared pan(s). 

Bake large cake for about an hour or small cakes for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out pretty clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then remove from pan to finish cooling.