Baked Figs with Mascarpone, Orange, Pistachios

and Hot Cross Buns

 

Serves 6

Preparation: 20 mins

Cooking Time: 35 mins

 

I am constantly on the look out for recipes that can make use of the fantastic harvest we have each season of our various fruit and vegetables.   At the moment, it happens to be be figs!

 

I found this fantastic looking recipe by Jamie Oliver who describes this as scrumptious - so we shall see!

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However, figs are expensive and not always available and so apricot, peaches or plums could work well instead.

 

 

Ingredients

 

• 250g mascarpone cheese

• 1 handful of unsalted shelled pistachio nuts

• 4 tablespoons honey ( you might need more!)

• Zest of 2 oranges and juice of 1 orange

• Optional:  100g dark chocolate, bashed up

• 4 hot cross buns or currant buns (if you can get neither, then you could use brioche and add some currants or sultanas)

• 1 knob butter

• 12 nice ripe figs (green or black) or use apricots, peaches or plums instead

• 2 tablespoons icing sugar (use coconut sugar if you wish to avoid using icing sugar)

 

 

 

Method

 

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C/Gas 4.
    

2. Put your mascarpone in a bowl.
    

3. Chop up half of the pistachios and add to the mascarpone along with half the honey, half the orange zest and the orange juice.   If you like, you can also add the bashed up chocolate!
    

4. Mix everything together and taste for sweetness - you may need a little more honey.
    

5. Butter an appropriately sized earthenware dish.
    

6. Slice your hot cross buns any way you like into 4 or 5 pieces and lay these in the dish.
    

7. With a sharp knife, carefully cut across the top of each fig but not quie all the way through - you want to leave a sort of hinged lid.
    

8. Poke your finger into each fig to make a little extra room, then spoon some of the mascarpone mix into the gap so it almost oozes out.   Keep any leftover filling to one side.
    

9. Place the figs in, around and on top of the buns.
    

10. Drizzle with the remaining honey and sprinkle with the extra pistachios and orange zest.
     

11. Dab any left over mascarpone mix around the buns in the baking dish and then dust the whole lot with some icing sugar.
     

12. Bake in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes until the bread is golden and crisp and the figs look yummy.
     

13. Serve with really cold crème fraîche or ice cream.
     

14. You can replace the hot cross or currant buns with brioche bread or croissants instead, if you prefer.