#24 Fig Cookies 1964

Third batch is the charm.

Ever since Adam and Eve first irritated their private parts wearing fig leaves in the garden, humans have loved figs.* I am no exception.

I look forward to a trip to California in October or November, when fresh figs hit the market. I think of figs as a fall-winter food, but most recipes I've found call for dried figs, the form available year-round.

The Fig Cookies recipe calls for dried and chopped Calmyrna figs, a variety that is often imported from Greece. In June, I could find only Kalamata figs (another Greek import). Kalamatas are also called "string figs" because in ancient times people carried strings of these figs on long journeys across the dessert. The figs provided much needed protein and carbohydrates.**

I picture the figs strung around peoples' necks. When did we get over these plants as wearing apparel? Talk about a perfect "What Not to Wear" item. Stacy, Clinton, ancient people so needed you.

Back to the cookies. They mixed up easily, with ground pecans and vanilla extract providing the main additional flavors. Then came the one caution in the recipe: "Be careful that they don't brown."

Hmm. Although I wouldn't want fruit to get so hot that it burns, heat usually brings out the sugars in fruit. What IS the concern here?

I found out with my first batch, which barely turned a light gold. The fig cookies turn bitter and become a fairly unpalatable non-confection if overheated.

Something from the cat box, not for my plate.

Beyond the flavor issue, the oval shape (in the book photo) into which the "logs" of dough were supposed to flatten during cooking did not materialize. The result better resembled what I scoop out of the cat litter than a cookie. Good thing you can make multiple batches of cookies until you get them right.

For the next sheet-full, I tried placing the dough in balls, and flattening them into small disks before baking. Small round delicate cookies present a different challenge--how to pick them up without crumbling between the fingers? I "wore" the crumbles on my shirt. A new generation falls victim to fig fashion. Damn.

On the third batch, I formed larger circles--1 1/2" in diameter, and 3/8" high. I let them go a full twenty minutes in the oven, at just below the 300⁰ the recipe advises. The fig flavor comes through, and not bitter, subtly blending with the pecans and vanilla. The shortbread texture holds up better in a larger round. The nuts and fig seeds add crunch. Although the recipe didn't get me there immediately, this batch must be the intended result.

The recipe is here.



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*Contact with hairs on fig leaves, the fruit, or the milky sap of fruit or leaves can be a skin irritant, especially when the skin is subsequently exposed to the sun: http://dermatology.cdlib.org/1412/case_presentations/phytophotodermatitis/polat.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus

**http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0501.htm