Blue cheese and fig preserve biscuits

Update 2025:   When I made these a second time, I used a different blue cheese, Treasure Cave out of Wisconsin, which was milder and saltier.  It gave a cheesier taste in the final product, and I didn't need to add the sprinkle of kosher salt.  I also rolled them a bit thinner, possibly too thin, and got around 100 biscuits.  (I count around 70 in that photo of the first time.)

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I made these for a holiday party at work. Pretty straight forward recipe, although I made two small changes. I thought walnuts would be a good addition and so added them as a topping, but because the biscuits are so small, the nuts had to be chopped smaller than desirable. (Unless you put one large piece on, which might look better.) I also sprinkled some kosher salt onto the jam after baking to elevate the sweet/salty thing going on. I added nutmeg, but I'm not sure it was detectable.

My changes are shown in italics. Here's what I used:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled  (I used Trader Joe's crumbled blue cheese.)
ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
fig preserves (about 3 tablespoons)
chopped walnuts (optional)
kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the flour, baking powder, butter, blue cheese, black pepper, and nutmeg in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the dough just comes together and starts to form a ball.  Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to pull the dough together. Roll out to 1/8 inch thick with a floured rolling pin. Cut rounds out of the dough with a floured 1-inch cutter and transfer the rounds to an ungreased baking sheet.  Using the back of a round half-teaspoon measure or your knuckle, make an indention in the top of each dough round. Spoon about 1/4 teaspoon of fig preserves into each indention, using your finger to push the preserves as best as possible into the indentations.  Sprinkle walnuts on top of preserves, if using.  Bake the savories for 10 – 14 minutes (mine were perfect at 12), until the pastry is just turning light golden around the edges.  Sprinkle preserves with kosher salt.  Let cool on the baking sheet until firm enough to handle, then remove to a wire rack to cool.

These were very easy to make, but were a bit time consuming.  I hesitated in using the full 1/4 teaspoon of jam because I was afraid it would melt and run, but it didn't melt much at all.  (It also never got "bubbly" as the original recipe suggests.)  Furthermore, the cheese is a little bitter, so the sweetness is necessary.  Don't skim on the jam.  The added salt on top also helped cut the bitterness and was a good addition. 

Conclusion:  These were a hit, although I found them a bit dry (the kind that sucks the moisture out of your mouth) and I detected the cheese only as bitterness and not really as "cheese".  Perhaps a different brand or style would produce a different result. Apricot jam would also be a good choice.

Recipe:   Blue Cheese and Fig Savouries via The Runaway Spoon

Sicilian Buccellato

It's not often I get the opportunity to make something as ornate and large as this.  Our office holiday party was yesterday and I thought it would be just the thing.  It did take quite a bit of work and time, but it was the construction mainly that appealed to me.  I enjoy the hand work.

What I used.

Traditionally, buccellatos are decorated with a special tool called a pinza per buccellato, appropriately enough.   A pair of hotdog tongs worked nicely.

 

   What you're supposed to use.

The only real challenge to making this is its size and weight.  You don't want to have to move it any more than necessary.  I thought I was being tricky by baking it on parchment paper; I shaped it on the paper, and then just slid the paper and pastry easily onto the baking sheet.  The problem arose when I was trying to remove the parchment from under the baked pastry.  It took two hands -- and I could have used a third -- to lift the ring without breaking it, and then I needed still another to pull the paper off the bottom of the ring.  In the end, I did break the ring a little, but due to the deep indentations of the design, the breaks were easily disguised.  I recommend moving the ring as little as possible:  shape it on the baking sheet, and after baking slide it straight from the sheet onto the cutting board or serving platter.   Whatever you serve it on, it should be sturdy and able to take cuts from a sharp knife.  This is a substantial loaf!

Some buccellato recipes call for chopping the filling mixture in a food processor until it is chopped fine.  Chopping by hand produces larger, uneven pieces of fruit and nut, particularly the citrus peel.  It takes longer, but gives a nicer texture.  I highly recommend using a high-quality dark chocolate.  I used Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips, and they were the low point in the dessert.

Here's what I used:

For the filling
500g (17 oz.) dried figs, chopped
250g (8.5 oz.) apricot or fig jam
100g (3.5 oz) almonds, chopped
100g (3.5 oz) hazelnuts, chopped
50g walnuts (1.75 oz), chopped
50g pistachios (1.75 oz), chopped
200g candied cherries, chopped
100g (3.5 oz) raisins
100g (3.5 oz) candied orange zests, chopped
100g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon, grated
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon clove powder
1 espresso shot
100ml (3.5 oz) Marsala or Muscat wine
125g (4.4 oz) honey

For the dough
500g (17 oz) flour
150g (5.25 oz) sugar
200g (7 oz) lard
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1 tablespoon honey
8g (a little more than 1/4 oz) ammonium bicarbonate (or baking soda)

For the glaze and the decoration
3 tablespoons apricot jam
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon water
Candied cherries
Pistachios, ground

Start by preparing the filling.  Best to do this the day before so it can cool down completely, and because it's time-consuming. 

Toast and roughly chop/crush all the nuts.  Chop the dried figs and candied fruits. Put all the ingredients (apart from the chocolate) in a pot over low heat and let it cook on a slow fire for 5 minutes.  Stir well.  Allow to cool completely, then add the chocolate.  Stir well and set aside.

For the dough, put all the ingredients in the bowl of a mixer with a hook attachment and knead for 5 minutes, or until you obtain a smooth and pliable dough.  Wrap tightly and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Take the dough out and roll it into a rectangle 15 cm x 30 cm.  Make a log out of the filling and put it in the center of the rectangle.  Bring the sides of the dough up and over the filling, overlapping slightly; press to seal.  Gently transfer the log, seam side down, onto a baking sheet.  Bring the ends together to form a ring and close the joint by pressing with your fingers.

To decorate, go around the cake four times with hotdog tongs to create a zigzag pattern of angled pinches close together.  Make longer pinches by placing two pinches side-by-side, as shown.  With each pass, angle the pinch in the opposite direction.   (You can also use a fork by digging and slightly dragging it into the dough.)  Refrigerate the buccellato for 1 day BEFORE baking it.

The following day, pre-heat the oven to 390°F.  Bake the buccellato for 35 – 45 minutes, until golden brown.  Cool completely.

In the meantime, prepare the glaze by simmering all the ingredients for 5 minutes.  Brush the cold buccellato with the hot glaze.  Decorate with candied cherries and ground pistachios.

This was very challenging, and interesting.  It wasn't as good as I'd hoped, although I got compliments on it and it was almost entirely consumed.  It's one of those things you learn and perfect by doing, year after year.  The filling might benefit from being made well in advance and being allowed to ripen, if it won't go bad.  The dough was VERY soft; the pinches did not stay deeply pronounced but were still very visible.  (The softening smoothed out most of my clumsy design work.)  It was also huge – 14" in diameter and several pounds.

 

Conclusion:  This was very European-tasting. It was impressive, but more trouble and expense
than it was worth.   Very rich and sweet, it might have benefited from some ice cream to cut the intensity.  If I made it again (unlikely), I would make the pastry barely sweet so it contrasted with the filling.  I might also use all butter, as the pastry wasn't very tasty.  (That rhymes.)  I'd probably play with the filling flavoring a little more as well.  One teaspoon of vanilla?  I doubt that made any difference.  A little anise might have been nice, though, a little more salt, and perhaps a stronger booze.     

Recipe:  Buccellato via Manu's Menu, also referencing this recipe at Cooking with Rosetta.

Happy Easter! Sicilian Fig Cookies (Cuccidati)

These are actually traditional Christmas cookies, and the heady aroma from the fruit, wine, and spices in the filling is definitely reminiscent of the winter holidays.  But these cookies are festive and colorful, and I thought the egg shape would work well for Easter.

A little digging also revealed that these are generally made into stuffed pillows, like Fig Newtons (probably where Nabisco got the idea).  However, there is also a tradition for making them into elaborate animal shapes with elegant patterns snipped into the dough.  According to Christopher Gronlund on his blog The Juggling Writer, when made like this they are called "cosi di ficu".

Photo from The Juggling Writer.

I hope to make these again eventually, but I will try a different shape.  A more simple version of the cosi di ficu would be nice, and I think would give a better filling-to-pastry ratio.  The balls presented here made cookies that are too large -- that's a lot of fig! -- and the thin glaze did not work nicely on them.  (I discuss that below.)

Europeans don't usually include salt with their sweets, so I adjusted the original recipe slightly to more closely match American taste.

For the Dough:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Pinch 1/8 teaspoon of salt
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

For the Filling:
1 cup whole almonds, toasted
1 cup dried figs, stemmed
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
3 2 tablespoons (approximately) fresh orange juice*
nonpareils, for decorating

For the dough, pulse the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until it looks like coarse meal. Whisk together the yolks, vanilla, lemon zest, and juice, then add to the food processor and pulse until the dough holds together when pinched. (Stop before it gathers into a ball).

Very dry and powdery, but holds together when pinched.

Turn out onto a sheet of waxed paper and knead into a log. Wrap tightly and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.  (Dough should be firm, but still workable.  If it's been chilled for several hours, let it warm up a little until you can work a piece without its breaking.)

Meanwhile, make the filling. Pulse the almonds in a clean food processor until coarsely chopped; transfer to a saucepan. Pulse the figs in the food processor until finely chopped and add to the saucepan along with the orange zest, wine, honey, cocoa powder, and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring, 5 minutes. Let cool.




Slice the dough into 24 equal pieces.  Working with one piece at a time, flatten each into a 2-3" disk.








Flatten it further while pinching it into a rough bowl shape, then fill with about a tablespoon of filling. (There's plenty of filling -- be generous.)  It helps to shape the filling into a ball first.

If the day is warm and you find the dough getting too soft, work with portions at a time and keep the rest chilled.  The dough should be cool and firm, but workable without falling apart.





Wrap the pastry over the filling and seal closed, then roll into a smooth ball.

Place on ungreased baking sheets, cover, and refrigerate about 30 minutes.  (This step can probably be omitted, especially if your kitchen is cool.)






 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake until the cookies are lightly browned, 20 to 30 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze: Whisk the confectioners' sugar and orange zest in a bowl.  Add enough juice to make a thin but stable glaze that isn't too runny.  (*The glaze in the original recipe is VERY thin -- it's supposed to just give a shine to the cookies. That concept works nicely with a flatter shape, especially if they've been cut into animals or other decorative designs.  In that case, you would brush the glaze on.  But with this ball shape, the glaze just ran off, it didn't look very nice, and there was WAY too much left over.)  Dip the tops of the cookies into the glaze, and then sprinkle with the nonpareils. Let set, about 15 minutes. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.  (These were actually better the second day, but after that the pastry crust lost some crispness.)

Conclusion:  These were very time-consuming, but worth it.  The light, crumbly, shortbread crust paired nicely with the rich fig filling.  I feel the filling still needed something... a tiny bit more salt, perhaps, and I'm thinking maybe some orange flower water.  That said, they received rave reviews just as they were.  One of my co-workers even convinced a vegan they were worth breaking his policy for, and on tasting one I got a high-five.  High praise, indeed.

Original recipe:  Sicilian Fig Cookies via Food Network Kitchens

Fresh Fig and Almond Crostata

This was an easy and straight-forward recipe.  Nothing very tricky about it, although I always struggle with butter pastry.  (It doesn't help when one leaves it in the refrigerator too long and then attempts to roll it out straight away.  Patience is not one of my virtues.)  I replaced half the flour with whole wheat pastry flour, and instead of mascarpone cheese I used a combination of cream cheese, Greek yogurt and heavy cream.  Since it was being mixed in with other ingredients and layered with even more, I'm sure that change didn't make any difference and now I don't have to figure out how to use up the rest of the container.  😎  Here's what I used:

 

1¹/₂ 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
1 lemon, zested
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
10 tablespoons (1¹/4 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons ice water
3¹/₂ ounces almond paste, at room temperature, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup combined cream cheese, Greek yogurt, and heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons honey
6 large or 12 small fresh figs, sliced, stems removed or 20 dried figs, reconstituted*
1/4 cup apricot jam

Combine the flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, lemon zest, and salt in the bowl of a food processor; pulse until blended. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. With the machine running, gradually add the water until moist clumps form. Turn the mixture out onto a work surface and form into a ball. Flatten the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap; chill for 1 hour.

In a clean food processor bowl, combine remaining sugar, almond paste, mascarpone cheese (or alternative), vanilla extract, and honey. Blend until smooth. Position an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

The filling seems like a lot

 

On a large sheet of parchment paper, roll out the dough into an 11-inch circle. Transfer the dough to a large, heavy baking sheet. Spread the almond filling over the dough, leaving a 2-inch border. 

 

 

 

Spreading on the apricot jam.

 

 

Arrange the figs on top of the almond filling, then spoon the jam over the figs. 

 

 

 

All tucked in and ready.

 

 

Fold the dough border over the filling to form an 8-inch round, pleating the crust loosely and pinching to seal any cracks in the dough.  

 

 

 

 

 

Bake the tart until the crust is golden, about 40 minutes. Place the baking sheet on a rack to cool for 10 minutes, then slide a metal spatula under the crust to free the tart from the parchment. Transfer the tart to a platter and serve.

*To reconstitute dried figs, simmer in water for 5 minutes. Let the mixture cool completely. Strain before using.

I wish I'd had the presence of mind to buy fresh figs at Farmer's Market -- they would have been perfectly ripe and sweet!  But these came from the grocery store.  Far too much pale flesh.  However, other comments in the recipe state you really have to use fresh figs in this, that reconstituted dried ones simply don't work very well.  And it's fig season!

I did not use parchment paper, and had no trouble getting the crostata off the lightly greased baking sheet.  However, I do wish I had used an air-bake pan.  I should have thought of that, as anything with a high fat content over-browns on the bottom in my oven unless I do.  

Conclusion:  This was delicious, though very rich and fairly sweet.  It would go best with some vanilla ice cream.  It was easy to put together -- with my substitutions, the only thing I had to buy was the figs.  I would add a bit more salt, perhaps another 1/4 teaspoon, as I think salt helps to balance the richness.

Recipe:  Fig and Almond Tart via Giada De Laurentiis at the Food Network