fresh fig cookies


This week we got two containers of fresh figs from the co-op, and I was totally stymied. I googled fresh fig recipes and found only a few that looked appetizing. We tried fresh fig, ricotta, and honey crostini for breakfast one day and found them pleasant but pretty bland. Next we tried these fresh fig cookies from Italian Dessert Recipes, and they were much better. I was surprised, though, that the figs didn’t have much flavor. I don’t know if it was just the particular figs that we got, or figs in general, but they were extremely mild. The cookies just kind of tasted like generic, nutty, lightly spiced cookies. I had to try several to confirm my opinion of them, of course, but that might just be because I’m a cookie fanatic.
Fresh Fig Cookies
Italian Dessert Recipes
1 cup granulated/white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup chopped fresh figs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream sugar and butter. Beat the egg and add to the butter/sugar mixture. Sift dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the mixture. Fold in the figs and nuts. Drop cookies by tablespoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
These cookies are delicious. Figs are very flavorful but evidently to a palette used to tons of white sugar they’re bland. Swap white sugar for brown and enjoy the beauty of figs.