FIGGING GOOD

On an impulse I bought some figs. They just looked too good, sitting there, dumpy and just ripe.

And then I found a perfect sweet treat to bake. And it’s easy, texturally impressive and full of figgy goodness.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes


Ingredients

1 cup natural raw almonds (i.e. with husk)
1/4 cup of sugar (I used granulated plus 2 tbls for sprinkling)
1/4 cup of plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
3 eggs (beaten)
2 tbls honey (I used awesome home produced home via friends in Barkers Creek — thanks Tony and Nico)
1/2 tsp almond extract
12-14 ripe figs

Method

Heat oven — 190ºC. Butter 9 inch fluted tart pan. Stick Almonds, the 1/4 cup of sugar in a process and whizz into a course powder. Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon & salt. Pulse to combine. In a mixing bowl (or Kitchen Aid) whisk eggs, melted butter, honey & almond extract. Add the Almond mixture to this and beat for a minute until batter is just mixed.

Pour into the pan. And now for the figgy bit. Remove steams from figs and cut in half. Cut into quarters too. In fact get creative and lay your figs in the batter, figgy side up, how ever you please. Just cover the batter with figs. Then sprinkle the sugar over the top. That’s it.Stick it in the over for about 25-30 mins, until golden and dry in the centre (probe away). Awesome with home made vanilla ice cream.


Fun Fig Fact #1
Fig trees have no blossoms on their branches. The blossom is inside of the fruit! Many tiny flowers produce the crunchy little edible seeds that give figs their unique texture.