106. A sweet little Italian friend brought a small container to me the other day. It was closed and wrapped up tight with paper towels wrapped tightly around it. She told me that this is something for our family from her tree in the back yard. Curiously, I asked her what it was...she responded, "Figs!" "Do you like figs?" To be honest...I have never had a fresh fig...where have I been?
I was so happy to receive this gift and promised her we would enjoy them and use them. Many times I have had dried figs, figs with almonds rolled in coconut and Fig Newtons! But never the fresh figs. There were large green figs and smaller brown figs both with glistening red centers. The small brown figs had a sweeter taste to them.
I began to search for recipes on line and in my cookbooks. One recipe was for Fresh Fig Muffins from Mele Cotte's wonderful Blog. These sounded delicious and easy, so I copied the recipe but made a few changes adding fresh grated nutmeg to the batter, eliminating the raisins, grinding the almonds to sprinkle on top and adding a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar to the top of each muffin. They were delightful!
The figs were ripe but were easy to dice.
And the recipe only called for 1 cup.
I served them with honey, jam and butter. They tasted like a dessert more than a muffin...and you could feel the little fig seeds crunching between your teeth. This recipe could adapt to any fruit: apple, plum, banana, peach...etc.
I only used 1 cup of figs...let's see tomorrow what I can make with the rest.
"Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig.
If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time.
Let it first blossom, then bear fruit then ripen."
~Epictetus
