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Almond and Fig Torte

  • February 8, 2023

 

Fresh figs are months away here in New Jersey , but this cake makes use of dried figs, readily available any time of year. My dad’s wife made this cake years ago and gave me the recipe, one she got from her local newspaper, but it’s attributed to chef Al Paris, of Philadelphia’s (now closed) Heirloom and Paris Bistro restaurants. With almond paste as one of its ingredients, the fragrance alone is inviting. The flavor is every bit as delicious as the smell that will permeate your kitchen while in the oven, and the texture is dense and moist.  The recipe calls for dried figs, but once fresh fig season arrives, this would be delicious with those as well.
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Almond and Fig Torte
 
Ingredients
  • 4 ounces unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pan
  • ¾ c. sugar
  • 12 ounces almond paste
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 T. vanilla extract
  • 1 t. baking powder
  • ½ cup almond flour, sifted
  • 1 cup dried black mission figs, stemmed, halved, and soaked in hot water
  • ½ cup pine nuts
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Grease a 10-inch springform pan with butter.
  3. Add the remaining butter and sugar to the bowl of a standing mixer.
  4. With the paddle attachment, cream until fluffy.
  5. Add the almond paste, eggs, and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
  6. Add the baking powder and almond flour and mix until incorporated.
  7. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  8. Drain the figs and then arrange them cut-side up on top.
  9. Sprinkle the pine nuts over the figs. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the edges of the cake are browned and the center is set. (
  10. The cake will be dense and soft, with the texture of almond paste.)
  11. Turn the oven off, crack the door of the oven, and let the cake rest in the oven for 20 minutes more. Slice and serve.

Fig Pecan Scones

  • August 30, 2022

It’s that time of year when figs are in abundance both in farmers’ markets and on backyard fig trees. However, my ornery fig tree has an abundance of healthy leaves but few figs growing on it. I’ll be lucky to get a half dozen to ripen at most. Last year was a bit better, and we enjoyed perhaps a dozen ripe figs, all ripening one at a time, making it impossible to bake anything that required more than one or two. It’s not the first fig tree I’ve grown, and hope springs eternal, but let’s just say I’ve given the ultimatum before to fig trees that don’t produce. I’ve got one planted in a pot for a year now also, and I’m going to try that as a backup in case this turns out to be a recalcitrant producer too.

In any event, I froze some of last year’s harvest, intending to use them sooner than this, but here I am making fig scones again. I made them in the past with fresh figs and found the flavor a little too mild, so I added some dried figs to the mix too, and I loved the combination of both types of figs.

I also added some pecans to the dough, just because I love pecans. But almonds and figs are a great combo too. If I were to do that, I’d add almond extract instead of the vanilla in the recipe.

Chop the figs into small pieces. If using frozen figs, don’t defrost them fully. Just enough to cut into pieces.

Shape the dough into a circle (be careful not to overwork the dough or the scones will be tough). Cut into eight sections, almost to the bottom of the dough to the pan. Sprinkle more pecans on top.

Cut them and separate the scones and serve as is, warm from the oven.

But for a little sweeter touch, drizzle some of the sugar-y glaze on top.

They are soft and crunchy at the same time. I hope you enjoy them. By the way, if you’ve got a stubborn fig tree that is slow to deliver, try using the leaves alone in this quick and delicious recipe for flounder baked in fig leaves: https://ciaochowlinda.com/2020/09/flounder-baked-in-fig-leaves.html

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Fig Pecan Scones
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • ½ cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ cup heavy cream , plus extra for brushing the top
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chopped fresh figs
  • ½ cup chopped dried figs
  • ½ cup chopped pecans (save some for the top)
  • ¾ cup confectioner's sugar
  • enough water to form a drizzle
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking pan with parchment paper.
  2. Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl.
  3. Blend in the butter with your fingers, a fork or a pastry blender, until it resembles coarse sand.
  4. Beat the egg with the cream and vanilla and stir it into the flour and butter mixture with a wooden spoon.
  5. Add the pecans and the figs.
  6. Do not overmix.
  7. Knead it together until it forms a ball, then flatten into a 9 or 10 inch circle.
  8. Take a knife and make indentations, cutting into eight pieces, almost down to the bottom of the pan.
  9. The mixture will be sticky.
  10. Sprinkle more pecans on top, if desired.
  11. Bake at 400 degrees for at least 30 minutes.
  12. It may need another 5-15 minutes depending on the diameter and thickness of your circle.
  13. If you want, you can cut all the way through the dough and bake each scone individually.
  14. It will take about 20-30 minutes if you do it that way.
  15. Let the scones cool completely if you want to glaze them.
  16. Otherwise eat warm from the oven with butter.
  17. If glazing, mix the confectioners' sugar with enough water to get a consistency of a glaze.
  18. Drizzle on top.