Come into my Kitchen » figs

Fig Cake & Fig Bread

Catherine — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:36:47 +0000

The fig saga continues as there are still figs in the refrigerator. This has been fun! An excuse to hunt & try out new recipes is just my cup of tea. Unfortunately, I have found more recipes than I have figs. Beginning to give serious thought to planting a fig tree. After all, I won’t always be lucky enough to be given figs. I’m not likely to never want to cook with figs again. See how easy it is to justify a new tree!

I had found 2 recipes for figs that looked interesting. One uses fresh figs & the other uses dried figs. I cannot bear to part with my dried figs yet! (Yes, I am aware of the fact that this & other recipes were why I dried figs.) That makes the decision easy. The cake with fresh figs is nominated for today’s baking trial.

Because I’m trying so many different new things, I’m only making a half batch of the cake batter. Cupcakes are just the ticket & will serve two purposes. I want to experiment with decorating cupcakes & it makes it easy to distribute the largess to get multiple opinions. It’s a nice, straightforward recipe for the cake & the cupcakes are baked in a short time. While they sit cooling on the wire rack, I tackle mixing up the bread batter.

The recipe says it makes enough for 2 large loaves or 3 small ones. Again, it’s a nice simple recipe that’s easy to follow. Not liking to do things the normal way, I decide to make one large loaf & muffins. Ah yes, if it’s good, I’m keeping the loaf for us & will share the muffins with somebody.

While the bread bakes, I pick a cupcake out and nibble on it. Hey somebody has to make sure they’re worth eating! No waiting on icing simply because I haven’t decided what icing I’m going to use on them. An icing recipe came with them, but I’m not sure I want to use it. I may use an orange icing I’m going to make in a couple of days for several varieties of cupcakes. The cake is wonderful. The figs make it very moist & give it a fruity flavor. Has a great spicy flavor from the aromatic spices that were used.

The muffins & bread loaf are pulled from the oven. They are moved to the wire rack to cool.

The cupcakes sit in front on the cutting board. The muffins are on the front part of the wire rack. Behind them, you can barely see the fig bread.

The fig cupcake has a light brown color & fine texture to it.

The fig muffin is a deep brown color with a coarse texture.

Figs, Part 2

Catherine — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:16:08 +0000

Before I went to bed last night, I washed & cut up about half of the figs I had. Carefully laid them out on my new dehydrator. Hadn’t been used since I bought it this spring. Found it at a yard sale for the whopping price of $3. Would have been foolish to resist it at that price! It’s the American Harvest Snackmaster Elite. Has 4 trays & even has a fan. Wonderful bargain & I’m feeling very pleased with myself for picking it up.

Dried Figs on the Dehydrator

Got up this morning & checked my figs. Most of them were almost dried. I thought that was doing great as I didn’t go to bed until VERY late. Sorted the dry ones out as they finished & bagged them up. Will be using them shortly in some recipes I found that call for dried figs. That’s why I dried some of the figs.

My next step was to start cutting up figs to make fig preserves. I cut the figs while the sugar & water boiled until the sugar was dissolved. By that time, the figs were ready. Added half of the figs as the recipe said. This mixture then simmered for 30 minutes. Wasn’t hard to keep going back into the kitchen to keep an eye on the mixture as it was beginning to smell good. When the timer went off, it was time to add the rest of the figs to cook. Now it was needing me to keep a closer eye on it, so it wouldn’t stick to the bottom of the pan or burn.

Now it was time to go into the basement to pull out enough canning jars to put the preserves in. My lids & rings were already upstairs. Washed everything good in hot soapy water so I would be ready when the preserves were done. By now, the fig & sugar mixture has turned to a beautiful golden-brown. The

The finished fig preserves.

directions had said to simmer it for 30-40 minutes to a suitable thickness.At 30 minutes, I felt it was still too runny & set the timer for another 10 minutes. Add the lemon juice that was needed. Just a little bit more & I would have preserves ready to pour in the jars.

By the time the timer went off, I had 3 pint canning jars sitting on the kitchen counter just waiting on preserves. Using my wide-mouthed funnel, I carefully distributed the mixture between the jars. One jar was a slightly skimpy fill. While the mixture had finished cooking, I had started heating my water bath. Using the tongs, I carefully spaced the jars in the boiling water. Took great care to make sure none of the jars touched each other or the side of the pan. Made sure the jar lids were well covered with water & set the timer. When the bell dinged, I carefully pulled the jars out with the tongs. The lids popped almost as soon as I put the jars on the towel on the countertop. As you can tell, the preserves stayed a golden-brown. If I get any more figs this summer, I will definitely be making another batch of fig preserves!

Figs!!

Catherine — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 06:05:16 +0000

Fresh Figs

Got the phone call from my friend about the figs this afternoon. So I drove out to Tonja’s house to pick them up. Stayed and visited awhile with her. We had a lovely chat. Her home is out in the country. It was very peaceful & quiet. We had beautiful view out of the windows. So pleasant sitting there chatting about family & food. We discussed what we were going to do with our figs, cake baking & bread baking.

Figs are a very delicate fruit & can’t be stored long so I have some serious work to do in the next 48 hours. Tonight the only thing I’m going to do with them is wash some and cut them in half. I’ll then lay them out on the dehydrator trays & dry them overnight. I’ve never had more than a couple of fresh figs so I’m really excited about getting to play with them. Fig preserves should be in my future tomorrow.