Flaming Baked Figs

Intro: Flaming Baked Figs

I love good figs, dessert, and fire. This dessert combines all three of them, turning figs and fire into pure deliciousness.

We live in the San Francisco bay area, and so have access to an overabundance of figs when the neighborhood trees ripen. I'm always looking for more good ways to eat or preserve figs to ensure we make the most of this short season.

STEP 1: Tools and Ingredients

Figs:
smear of butter
12-20 ripe figs (not too squishy - we'll be baking them)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup Grand Marnier, Cointreau, or other orange liquor (or interesting liquor of your choice, 80proof or higher)

Cream:
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon liquor (same type as above)
2 tablespoons sugar

Tools:
8 inch fry pan, oven and stove safe (or similarly-sized pan)
electric mixer or beaters
rubber spatula (optional but handy)

STEP 2: Bake Figs

Butter pan, stab the bottoms of the figs so they'll drop juices, and arrange figs so they're close but not touching. I could probably fit a few more figs in this pan, but we've already eaten the rest.

Sprinkle over 1/3 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup water.

Bake at 325F for about 30 minutes, basting every 10 minutes with pan juices. Poke your figs - if they're not cooked through, bake a little longer. The timing is pretty flexible.

STEP 3: Make Whipped Cream

Whip 1 cup heavy cream, 1 Tablespoon liqueur, and 2 Tablespoons sugar until cream is nice and thick, forming moderately-stiff peaks. Add a sprinkling of any spices you like - I'm fond of allspice with figs, but your mileage may vary.

Chill until ready to serve.

STEP 4: Flame Figs

This is the good part!

Pull your pan of figs out of the oven, add 1/4 cup of Cointreau, and place it on the stove at medium heat. Remember the pot handle is hot - I kept forgetting this, which caused a few problems.

As soon as the liquid boils, remove from heat (important if you have a gas stove) and carefully prod at the air over the edge of the pot with a lit match. Note that you're not setting fire to the liquid: you're setting fire to the alcohol vapor just above the liquid, which will quickly catch the liquid itself on fire. Sit back and enjoy the show.

If you can't get it to catch fire, add a bit more liquor (AWAY from any flame!) and reheat so the alcohol vapors are ready to go.

STEP 5: Reduce Syrup

After the fire dies down, remove figs from the pot and set them on a plate to cool.

Place the pan back on the stove, and cook over medium-low until the liquid is syrupy. Stir as needed, and remove from heat when syrup is nicely syrupy. (Sorry, I'm not going to be able to explain it better than that. Just don't burn it.)

Set aside to cool, as the syrup will be dangerously hot.

STEP 6: Serve

Scoop a blob of whipped cream onto a plate next to the figs. Drizzle the whole thing with the syrup, and garnish with some kind of fresh herb tips1 for maximally awesome presentation.

All these ingredients store nicely! Just plop the figs into a bowl of syrup, and store the whipped cream separately. in fact, overnight marination will only make the figs taste better - it's just a matter of planning ahead.

1Mint, thyme, etc. I only have rosemary growing right now, so skipped it.

Comments

[sunshiine]

Can you recommend an equivalent brand of liqueur that might give the same flavor and effect as what you recommend here. I thought I would try this but it is kind of expensive. I don't use a lot of liqueur.

[sunshiine]

Canida, Thanks for sharing this! I love figs! We had fresh figs this year and they were so good. I will share this with my sister. She was looking for recipes to use for them. I am still learning and trying to make a coco flambe but have not found a good video for it yet. Sunshiine

[canida]

Thanks! Let me know how it goes. And I'd love to see your coco flambe recipe - anything on fire is going to be good.

[sunshiine]

The purple and green sure do make this dish beautiful! I had to come back and take another look. Purple and green are my favorite colors! Mine is not officially a coco flambe because I could not get the coco to light. But I did have an impressive flambe in a pan! It was quite the thrill! The first time I did it, it freaked me out! I did not know it was going to do that. Then I wanted my husband in the kitchen when I made the one I took pictures of and he said oh no! I told him to relax I had it under control I just wanted him to take the picture of light the fire. It was a fun moment in time. https://www.instructables.com/id/Hot-Chocolate-Flambe-of-sorts/ Sunshiine

[mikeasaurus]

Quite the fire show, these look good!

[sunshiine]

I posted one but I am looking for a good video to teach me how to make one in a cup. I will keep searching and experimenting until I figure it out. Your little dish here is so beautiful with the colors and all. At first glance they looked like red onions. I can't wait to try it. Thanks again! Sunshiine