Baked Figs with Rosemary Honey

This is dedicated to an old friend from school, a fellow blogger, Tweetter, Westie lover and Francophile like me. She has a design business and publishes a wonderful blog on color and design.

After I posted the fig and prosciutto recipe last week, she mentioned a wonderful sounding dessert that she had eaten in Provence...baked figs with honey and rosemary The idea intrigued me and I searched high and low for a recipe, but none could be found.

Having eaten at many a little restaurant by the side of the road in France, I figured it couldn't be difficult or complicated. Besides, the crux of these wonderful unexpected experiences is not only the quality of the ingredients but also the time, the place, the mood and the unexpected. How many times have you had a magnificent bottle of wine at a restaurant and opened the same at home and were disappointed? Nevertheless, wanting to surprise her and having some figs on hand, I decided to replicate something I had never had before. Bad idea? Not really!

I baked this wonderful dessert tonight (with the oven at 425 degrees and the outside temperature at 95F!) and I must say it was quite good! Although I've never tasted the original nor have the everlasting memories that go with it, I would definitely make it again. They were served warm...I wonder what temperature they were served in Provence...

Black Mission figs was what I had on hand. but you could also use green-skinned Calimyrnas, or both for this dessert. Give the figs a gentle squeeze to check for ripeness; they should be quite soft.


SERVINGS: 4


Ingredients

12 fresh figs
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
4 teaspoons honey
2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 12 pieces
2 tablespoons water
Rosemary Sprigs


Directions

Heat the oven to 425°. Cut the stems off the figs. Rub the oil over the figs and put them in a baking pan, stem-side up. Cut a cross in the top of each fig, cutting almost to the bottom.

Drizzle the honey over the figs. Top each one with a piece of the butter and rosemary. Spread some longer twigs of rosemary in the bottom of pan and drizzle with the honey.

Bake the figs for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven.

Put the figs on plates, add the water to the pan, return the pan to the oven for 1 minute, and then stir to make a sauce.

Drizzle the sauce over the warm figs and serve.