A couple of weeks ago two of my best friends moved to Miami, Florida.
In between what Erin likes to refer to as the “daily monsoons”, it is apparently balls hot there. Meanwhile, as soon as they left Chicago, it dropped from 90+ degrees every day to mid-70s.
In other words: As soon as my friends moved to where it is summer year-round, it became fall here. I’m not complaining.
With the advent of being able to sleep with my windows open and straighten my hair again came the desire for fall flavors. While I am perhaps not to the pumpkin stage yet – although we all know how I prefer sweet potatoes to pumpkin anyway – and am still a couple of weeks away from being able to bust out the apple recipes, I was definitely craving something akin to apple butter the other day.
Enter: Fig butter.
This stuff is easy to make (is anyone else noticing that I’m on an easy recipe kick lately?). It requires essentially no effort or active time from you. Soak, simmer, puree, chill. Done.
So what are we going to do with our fig butter? First, put it on a piece of toast. Next…well, you’ll find that out later this week. But I will tell you this: it’s ridiculously easy, too.
Someday I’ll stop being lazy. Maybe.
Just kidding.
Fig Butter
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
1 cup dried figs (about 6 ounces), stems removed
1 1/2 cups pressed apple juice
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon triple sec (optional, though highly recommended – you could also substitute the same amount of orange juice)
Place figs in a medium sauce pot. Cover with apple juice; allow to soak for 15 minutes.
Add sugar and triple sec; stir to combine. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer for 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Puree mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth. The butter may seem a little runny at first, but once it chills it will thicken up considerably.
Fig butter will last, in an airtight container in the refrigerator, for at least a week, probably closer to 10 days.
Oooo! I love fig butter. It makes everything taste like fig newtons! Yes, I have a secret old lady love of fig newtons. So good!
Me too! I could eat a whole sleeve in one sitting. Seriously. It’s a problem.
Oooh, looks different and very yummy. Can’t wait to see what you’re going to do with it.
This looks great, Stephie! I’m a huge fan of figs and have never tried making a fruit butter before. Toast with butter/jam is always a morning favorite so I’ll have to acquire a batch of figs and give this a shot!
Please do! I like this recipe because dried figs are so much easier to find than fresh ones, at least where I live.
This recipe makes me so happy! I love figs! Can’t wait to try it 🙂
In case I haven’t told you enough times already… totally obsessed.
Need some of this fig butter asap!!
This looks wonderful! I just made fig jam recently, but it was very different from fig butter, and it hadn’t occurred to me to try making my own. (By the way, I have an awesome Fig & Walnut vinaigrette dressing recipe on my site that uses some of Trader Joe’s Fig Butter in it, but it’d be way nicer if I could make it from scratch in the first place, like you do!)
It is SO easy! And I haven’t checked to see how much the fig butter is at TJ’s, but I can make two batches of this from one of their containers of dried figs, so I figure it probably has to be cheaper.
Was just wondering would fresh figs work the same? I have a beautiful fig tree in my yard and just pulled off 3 HUGE bowls of figs (even with so many little ones they are ripening to fast ) would i need to make adjusments to the recipe?
Hi Jamie – I haven’t made it with fresh figs so I can’t tell you 100% how it would do. I would quarter the figs before simmering them, and you probably won’t need as much apple juice – you could always add a bit more later when blending if need-be. Also, I’m coming to live with you if you have that many figs in your yard!