Fresh Fig Ice Cream with Blue Cheese Cookies

 

It's been many years now that my family have been enjoying our neighbor's bounty of figs; we are truly lucky to have friends willing to share them with us. Our neighbor have several trees of Black Mission variety in his property, also ones he grew from cuttings he brought in from his home country that have finally started to bear fruit this year. So for weeks,my family and I would feast on figs every single day.

We eat them fresh as is, or with cheese and crackers for a snack. We also make our usual jam to be enjoyed months later. And every year, I try new recipes using figs for my family to enjoy. We've already made Fig Newton and Fig Bars which is always a hit with my kids. I've also baked them into a Fig and Almond Cake before and just recently paired them with goat cheese to make Cheesecake Muffins.

Fresh Fig Ice Cream is a totally different way of enjoying figs. A simple recipe, basically a fig jam blended with cream, but it's the coldness on your tongue and added creaminess that makes this a really decadent treat.

I also baked some blue cheese cookies to enjoy with the ice cream for an added savory component. They also added another texture, crisp edges and soft centers of the cookies -- I loved the combination of two together.

I played around and made some ice cream sandwiches but with mixed results. I think because I placed the assembled ice cream sandwiches back in the freezer and the cookies hardened. This made it difficult to bite into and resulted in the ice cream being squeezed out from the sides. Next time, they just need to be enjoyed right away.

Fresh Fig Ice Cream
adapted from David Lebovitz, recipe in Serious Eats

2 pounds (1 kg) fresh figs (about 20)
125 ml (1/2 cup) water
1 lemon
150 g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
250ml (1 cup) heavy cream
1/2 tsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste

1. Cut stems off the figs and cut into 8 pieces. Place figs in a medium pan with water and zest from lemon. Cover pot and bring to a boil over medium-heat. Stir occasionally and cook until they are tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Remove lid, add the sugar and continue cooking. Keep stirring until thickened or has consistency of jam. Remove from heat, let it cool completely. Transfer to a blender of food processor and puree to desired consistency (I left mine with little chunks of figs, you may process until smooth).
3. Add cream and lemon juice to blender and combine. Taste for flavor, add more lemon juice if you needed.
4. Place in the refrigerator to chill completely. Freeze following your ice cream makers instructions.

*Fresh Fig Jam can be made by following above recipe, using only the first four ingredients and follow instructions up to step 2.

Blue Cheese Cookies
adapted from :pastry studio:

175g (6 oz) blue cheese, softened
56g (4 Tbsp) butter, softened
80g granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
180g (1 1/2 cup) flour

1. Place blue cheese, butter, sugar and salt in a food processor and blend until creamy.
2. Add flour and pulse until it comes together. Remove and form into two disks of dough.
3. Cover completely with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
5. Roll dough into 1/4-inch thick and cut out cookies using cutter, about 2 inches in size.
6. Place in a parchment-lined baking sheet, bake for 15-18 minutes, or until edges are golden.
7. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.