I really do enjoy figs. My love for figs started when I was in my early twenties. My best friend had a neighbor who had ten to fifteen fig trees on their property. I had never had a fig before and one day he gave me one to try.
He was an older gentleman, and after seeing I enjoyed the fig, invited me to come to his property and harvest the figs whenever I wanted. He said he wasn’t young and able enough to harvest them all. He hated to see the fruit go to waste because he couldn’t go out and get them all.
So every year, for several years until he passed, my friend and I would go every few weeks during the season and harvest figs. There were so many figs! We started to get creative in how to make them.
While that was almost thirty years ago, I still love figs. For some reason they are not something you can find all that often, most grocery stores don’t sell them fresh, only dried.
Thankfully this recipe did not call for fresh figs. I’m not sure I would have been able to find them if it had.
This recipe makes a beautiful coffee cake. It has a lovely, almost flower like appearance.
The filling has a lovely flavor. You get a lot of figs in every bite. So if you like figs, you will love this.
One thing to make sure you do if to cook the coffee cake in a pan that has sides. I unfortunately did not.
There is a ton of butter in the pastry part of this dish. When the coffee cake cooks, the butter heats up and some of it leeches out. This created a huge mess in my oven - there was melted butter everywhere!
I had to stop cooking! I turned the oven off to clean it. I also transferred the coffee cake to a baking pan with sides.
Thankfully, everything worked out okay. The coffee cake turned out beautifully in the end. Just had to get through some of the speed bumps first!
Fig Coffee Cake
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Water - 105-115 Degrees
1 Package Yeast
4 Cups Sifted Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter
1 1/2 Teaspoons Cardamom
1 1/2 Cups Butter
1 Egg Yolk
2 Tablespoons Milk
FIG FILLING
1/4 Cup Butter
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup Chopped Dried Figs
1/4 Cup Almond Paste
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
Dash Nutmeg
Beat eggs well. Add warm water. Dissolve yeast in egg water and let rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Blend flour, salt, sugar, 1.2 cup butter and cardamom with a pastry blender. Make a well in the center. Pour the chilled yeast mixture into the center. Gently work into the dry ingredients. Knead until smooth, about 2 minutes. For the dough into a ball and rest it, covered, for 20 minutes in the refrigerator. Roll out into an oblong about 3/8 inch thick. Beat remaining butter until creamy. Spread the butter onto 1/3 of the dough. Fold the dough in thirds, folding and rolling four times - as you would do for croissants. Cover and chill for 2 hours. Roll on a slightly floured surface to the thickness of 3/8 inch. Cut off any folded edges. Roll the dough first into an oblong, about 29 x 11 inches. For Filling - Melt butter, add brown sugar and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in figs, almond paste, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cool slightly. Place filling onto oblong of dough. Continue rolling. Bring the two ends of the roll together, using a little water for glue. Place the ring on a greased baking sheet. With floured scissors held perpendicular the the roll, cut bias gashes about 1 to 2 inches apart into the upper outer edges of the ring, to within 1 inch of the inner circle. Turn the partially cut slice flat onto the baking sheet. Combine egg yolk with milk. Brush the surfaces of the ring with egg wash being careful not to brush the cut sections. Cover with a cloth and let rise 25 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 25 minutes.
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