Rustic Mediterranean Fig Cookies
Yum
Rustic Mediterranean Fig Cookies are easy homemade cookies with fresh figs. Perfect coastal delicacy.
Fresh figs, all their varieties, are our favourite late summer fruit. Mediterranean people appreciate this fruit on their special way. Fresh figs fed generations of islanders during the wars, hungers, and travels.
When making winter stocks, peasants were drying them on the sun to keep them for peon lunches and Christmas gifts as well.
Figs dried that way had very special flavor because of salty air they were exposed to and, once dried, wrapped in bay leaves and kept in the pantry.
How to make fig cookies?
You start with the dough: combine flour, sugar, salt, butter, milk, and baking powder and leave it to rest in the fridge. Meanwhile, prepare fig spread by mixing figs, vanilla extract, lemon juice and honey. If you like to add some more lemon flavor, you may add lemon zest at the end of the process.
Then you cut the cookies, garnish with fig spread and bake. When cooled, garnish with herbs or spices. I prefer thyme and rosemary. If you are interested in more ideas, visit thrivecuisine for more ideas.
Figs are amazing fruit and there are so many recipes to use them, both sweet and savoury!
There are some to be found on our blog:
Mediterranean Breakfast Cake with Greek Yogurt
Italian Festive Cake (Bustrengo)
Cannoli Cones with Figs, Honey and Almonds
This wonderful fruits were the only fruit with lemons and oranges available at the coast only century ago. Nothing stellar at all.
Later, dried figs were used as an ingredient for Christmas sweets, egg free, in most of the cases.
My family maintains the tradition of eating dry fruits during winter and I continued to do the same.
Now, these cookies are slightly modified, or should I say “updated” old recipe; basically, I added baking powder, sugar, and vanilla, being careful to maintain the ratio of dry and wet ingredients. Lemons and honey were available back then also. Sugar has always been a hard one to get.
Anyway, I really hope you will love these little retro cookies garnished with herbs also specific for the beautiful, beautiful coast sides.
For 45 more fig recipes go to bbcgoodfood ( link ).
Rustic Mediterranean Fig Cookies
Rustic Mediterranean Fig Cookies are easy homemade cookies with fresh figs. Perfect coastal delicacy.
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour, all purpose
- 4 Tbsp sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 8 Tbsp butter, room temperature
- 8 Tbsp milk, dairy or non - dairy
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 8 fresh figs, unpeeled
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp honey
- Lemon zest to taste
- Pinch of salt
- 4 tsp corn starch
Instructions
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Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder on a work surface and add butter and milk.
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Knead to get even texture dough.
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Wrap it in the foil and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
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While the dough is resting, take medium sized pot to prepare the figs spread.
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Mash the figs with fork, add lemon juice vanilla extract, honey, and corn starch.
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Mix well continuously and boil on medium heat for 3 minutes. At the end, add lemon zest to taste.
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Leave aside, away from heat.
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Preheat the oven to 200 C / 392 F.
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Take the dough out and roll it on a flat working surface to be 4 mm / 0.16 inch thick.
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Cut the rounded shapes. Mine had 3 inches in diameter.
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Place the cookies on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper.
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Place 1 tsp of fig spread in the center of each cookie and bake for 14 minutes.
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When baked and cooled, garnish with herbs that match the figs ( thyme, basil, rosemary, or mint ).
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