Sticky Cinnamon Figs - Guest post for Magnolia Days

Figs are sweet all on their own but add a little butter, a little honey and a little heat and they turn even sweeter and syrupy, the perfect accompaniment to mascarpone and pistachios. 

Guest posts are hard.
I don’t know if it’s just me but when I am writing and cooking and taking photographs for someone else’s space, I feel a lot more pressure than when it’s just for me. Not that I don’t care about you, my own readers. I do! And I want the dish to be as tasty as possible, because we are going to eat it. And I want the photos to be wonderful and draw you in. But, if you are here reading, chances are you like what I make or write or the photos I post, or you at least forgive me my mistakes because you know I mean well. Or you are my mother and would love me anyway. (Hi, Mom!) But as a guest writer on another blog, I'll have new eyes on my work that don’t know me. And I’d hate to be found wanting. Call it the middle child syndrome, perhaps, but I want people to like me! I want to be good enough. Can anyone else relate?

So go read my guest post, okay? 
All this moaning is my way of telling you that I have a guest post up today on the wonderful blog Magnolia Days, for my friend and, dare I say, blogging mentor, Renee. Renee has been endlessly generous with her knowledge and advice and kindness over the past three years of my blogging journey. When she asked if I would guest post as she takes a dual milestone birthday celebration trip to Germany with her mother, I jumped at the chance. And then repented in leisure. (See paragraph one above, re: Guest posts are hard.) I made three different recipes because I couldn’t decide what was good enough for a guest post. And, fellow bloggers, just in case I’ve done a guest post for you, know that the anguish was the same. But this time I decided to come public. The chosen recipe is for sticky cinnamon figs and they made the cut because they are sweet and southern, just like Renee.

Check out the figgy honey syrup in the bottom of my baking pan!

Payback is only fair.
Renee has helped me so much that an emphatic “Sure!” was the only right answer. She is instrumental in the smooth running of Sunday Supper and is my partner in crime for Bread Bakers.  If you haven’t met her yet, I encourage you to browse through her extensive list of recipes. Everything I’ve made from Renee’s blog has been great but we especially enjoyed her sesame noodles from a couple of years back and more recently, her No-bake Bourbon Pecan Cookies and Asian Pork Lettuce Cups.

Seriously delicious sesame noodles!

Now please go visit my Sticky Cinnamon Figs and meet my friend, Renee!

Honey Lemon Fig Muffins #MuffinMonday

Fresh ripe figs make a lovely muffin, with no added sugar and only honey to add extra sweetness and a little lemon juice to bump up the batter flavor. Top with slices of fresh fig and a drizzle of honey before baking. 

Well, hallelujah! Let all God’s fig lovers give praise. I finally found some ripe figs I could afford in what had been an otherwise disappointingly practically figless summer! First I made preserves, which turned out more like jam as the large figs fell apart, but a few of the smaller ones were reserved for muffins. These muffins here. Oh, and I may well have eaten quite a few just as is. Aren’t ripe figs the best? I can close my eyes and I am 10 years old again, up high in the branches of my grandparents’ fig trees, enjoying the breeze and eating my fill. Sweet!

Ingredients
6-7 fresh sweet ripe, but firm, figs (about 320g)
1 lemon, for zest and juice
1/3 cup or 80ml honey, plus more for drizzling before baking, if desired
1/4 cup or 60ml lemon juice
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
1 egg
1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light vegetable oil
2 cups or 250g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by spraying it with non-stick spray or lining it with muffin papers.

Slice the ends off of your figs and discard. Now slice 12 nice circles from the middle of the figs and set aside. Chop the rest of the figs up roughly.

Combine your flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Zest your lemon into the bowl and stir well.

Juice the lemon and measure out 1/4 cup or 60ml.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your egg, honey, milk, lemon juice and oil.

That's the last of my dark Ugandan honey. Time to go back!

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until just mixed. There should be some flour showing. Fold in the chopped figs.

Divide your batter between the 12 muffin cups. Top each with a fig slice and push it in slightly. Drizzle on a little extra honey, if desired.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pans and then remove to continue cooling on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Have you found sweet figs at an affordable price this summer? Or perhaps you are blessed with a fig-bearing tree. I’m rather fond of dried figs as well. Here are a few more recipes that might interest you.


Gram’s Fig Preserves – Just like my grandmother used to make them

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Gram’s Fig Spice Cake – My grandmother’s special recipe, with buttermilk glaze

Figgy Jam Muffins – for when you can’t find fresh but really need to bake with figs - this was me earlier this summer! 

Honey Whiskey Mini Bundts with Honey Whiskey Glaze #BundtBakers

Baking with honey and bourbon whiskey in the batter and adding a honey bourbon glaze gives these little Bundt cakes a sweet and almost smoky flavor that keeps you wanting just one more small piece. Till they are all gone. 

This month’s Bundt Baker theme, ably hosted by Laura of Baking in Pyjamas, is honey! I started searching for recipes with honey online, looking for an interesting twist, when I came across a recipe for a honey whiskey cake. Come to find out, there is an actual thing made by Jack Daniels, called honey whiskey. Who knew? That recipe called for a yellow cake mix so I kept the idea and created my own, using normal Jack Daniels and Ugandan honey, brought back from my trip there last February. The Ugandan honey is a deep amber color and has quite a strong flavor so it was well able to compete with the strong bourbon to flavor this cake.

Make sure to scroll to the bottom and see all the other lovely honey Bundt links from the group this month!

Ingredients – for a five-cup capacity mini Bundt pan making six mini Bundts
For the batter:
3/4 cup or 150g sugar
6 tablespoon or 85g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for buttering pan
2 eggs
2 cups or 250g flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup or 60ml honey
2/3 cup or 155ml milk, at room temperature
1/3 cup or 80ml bourbon
3/4 cup or 90g chopped pecans

For the syrup/glaze:
1/4 cup or 60g butter
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup or 60ml honey
1/4 cup or 50g sugar
1/4 cup or 60ml bourbon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your mini Bundt pan by using a pastry brush to paint the inside and around the edges liberally with butter. Don’t be shy.

Sprinkle your pecans into the bottom of the buttered Bundt pan.

Combine your flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside. Combine the milk, bourbon and honey for the batter in a measuring vessel and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together your butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well between them.

First egg

Second egg

Now add half of the flour mixture and half of the liquid mixture and beat well.

Add the balance of the flour and liquid mixture and beat well again.

Gently scoop or spoon the batter into your prepared pan, on top of the pecans.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning the mini Bundts out of the pan.

Cool on a wire rack while you make the syrup glaze.

Put all the ingredients for the syrup in a small pot and heat it until boiling. Allow to boil for a few minutes, until it reduces slightly. Turn off the fire and allow to cool for a few minutes.

That's the bourbon going in and the dark honey already in the pot.

Put your mini Bundts in a pan or plate with sides to catch the glaze that doesn’t soak in immediately and drizzle the syrupy glaze, at little at a time, over all of the Bundts.

Enjoy!

Check out all the lovely honey Bundts we have for you this month!

• A Taste of Honey by Margaret at Tea and Scones 
• Hipy Papy Bthuthdth Thuthda Bthuthdy Cake by Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Honey Almond Bundt Cake by Terri at Love and Confections
• Honey Baba au Rhum by Kelly at Passion Kneaded
• Honey Banana Bundt by Jane at Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Honey Bundt Cake with Lemon Honey Glaze by Bea and Mara at I Love Bundt Cakes
• Honey Bunny Bundt Cake by Teri at The Freshman Cook
• Honey Caramel Apple Bundt Cake by Laura at Baking in Pyjamas
• Honey Glazed Blackberry Cornmeal Bundt Cake by Tux at Brooklyn Homemaker
• Honey Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake by Lauren at Gate to Plate
• Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Pound Cake by Renee at Magnolia Days
• Honey Whiskey Mini Bundt Cakes with Honey Whiskey Glaze by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Orange Hazelnut Bundt Cake by Zainab at Blahnik Baker
• Whole Wheat Honey Spiced Apple Breakfast Bundtlettes by Laura at The Spiced Life

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme.  Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send me (Stacy) an email WITH your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

No-churn Brown Sugar Peach Ripple Ice Cream

Now that I’ve discovered an easy no-churn way of making creamy ice cream, my head is constantly buzzing with ideas for flavors. Peaches are all over the markets right now, so a seasonal double peach ice cream was top of the list.

Years ago when we lived in Brazil, I asked my sister to bring me an ice cream maker when she came to visit. Ice cream was crazy expensive there and we missed it terribly because I just couldn’t bring myself to pay the price. Unfortunately, I didn’t think things through because, once I had the maker in my possession, I discovered that cream was the real culprit and it was going to cost me more to make my own than the expensive store-bought stuff cost. Deep sigh. When we moved to Houston, the ice cream maker came with us but it never got out of the box. Because: Blue Bell. If you live in Texas, you get to eat Blue Bell! Some of the very best ice cream in the country. But now that I’ve caught the ice cream making bug, thanks to my friend, Jenni, I started digging through our storage area over the washing machine and located said never-yet-used ice cream machine and hope to use it for the first time. Coconut ice cream, at the request of my younger daughter, is first on the list. Do you have an ice cream maker? What’s your favorite flavor?

Ingredients
3 medium peaches (about 1 lb or 450g total weight)

1/4 cup, firmly packed, or 50g brown sugar
1/4 cup or 60ml honey
Good pinch salt
1 teaspoon butter
1 2/3 cups or 400ml whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2/3 cup or 200g sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 tablespoons aged rum (I used Ron Zacapa which is almost sweet, it is so mellow.)

Method
Cut the peaches in half and remove the pit. Cut them into pieces.

Put one chopped peach in a small pot with the sugar, honey and salt and heat to a slow boil over a medium flame. Stir frequently.

Cook at a slow boil until the peaches are very soft and the sauce thickens.

If you are a candy thermometer person, and I highly recommend you become one if you aren’t already, heat till about 225°F or °C.  Add the butter and stir while it melts. Set aside to cool. I poured mine into another bowl so it would cool faster then added the butter because I was in a rush to get this ice cream in the freezer.

In your stand mixer or with electric beaters, whisk the cream and cream of tartar until the cream thickens.

Add the condensed milk and whisk until stiff peaks form.

You can see that the cream is already pretty thick.

Add the vanilla and rum and whisk again.

Very stiff now!

Reserve some chopped peaches and peach sauce to add on top of the ice cream.  Ever so gently, fold in the rest of the fresh peaches and peach sauce. I spooned the sauce in all over the surface so it would be easier to fold in and not be completely lost in the folding.

Put the mixture in an airtight container, top with the reserved peaches and sauce and freeze for several hours for soft serve or overnight for firmer ice cream. I had guests coming for dinner so mine was on the softer side, as you can see from the photos.

Enjoy!

Chief instigator ice cream maker, +Jenni Field is also making ice cream today! Have a look at her wonderful Speculoos Cookie Milk Ice Cream! 

Orange Honey Muffins #MuffinMonday

Sweetened naturally with honey and flavored with orange juice, these muffins make a delicious and reasonably healthy breakfast.

So, I am in Uganda, folks! I’m hoping to update this with first reactions and a little bit of what my days have been like but, just in case I don’t have internet, I’m going ahead and scheduling Muffin Monday before I leave Dubai. I’ve chosen two ingredients for today’s muffin that my research tells me are available and common in Uganda, although it seems that Ugandan oranges are a little more green on the outside than we are used to. And Ugandan honey is supposed to be wonderful.  Can’t wait to find out if that’s true!

Update: Still haven’t tried Ugandan honey but Yay! I have internet, albeit sporadically, so I’ll add my first impressions at the end of the recipe along with some photos, for those who are interested. For the rest of you, bake orange muffins with honey and think wild African thoughts! 

Ingredients
1 orange, for zest and decoration
2 cups or 250g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/3 cup or 80ml honey
3/4 cup or 180ml orange juice
1/4 cup or 60ml milk
1/4 cup or 60ml vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sugar for topping, if desired

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin tin by spraying with non-stick spray or lining with muffin papers.

Combine your flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add in the zest of your orange and stir well.

Peel your orange and remove all of the loose bits of white pith. Using a sharp knife, cut the hard side off of each peg and remove the seeds. Slice six of the pegs in half lengthwise. Set aside. (You can juice the rest to make up part of your 3/4 cup or 180ml orange juice or just eat the remaining pegs. Guess what I did?)

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your egg, honey, milk, orange juice and oil.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until just mixed.

Divide your batter between the 12 muffin cups. Top each with an orange slice. Sprinkle with the sugar, if using.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pans and then remove to continue cooling on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Part of our human experience is that we try to make connections.  With people, with places we’ve lived, indeed with past experiences. As we arrived in Uganda, it felt more familiar than different. The airport was Freeport, Bahamas or Talara, Perú or Port of Spain, Trinidad many, many years ago. The landscape as we drove through the countryside shares the deep green foliage and red clay soil of Brazil or Malaysia and the dusty towns we passed through could well have been Balikpapan, Indonesia or San Fernando, Trinidad as easily as they could have been Macaé, Brazil during the years when we lived there or even our small area of Kuala Lumpur.

There were shop fronts selling myriad sundries, butchers with meat hanging in the open air, flamboyantly colored new clothes on hangers swinging in the breeze to entice passing shoppers, the languid men lounging on their boda-boda or motorcycle taxis waiting for a customer, women and children sitting on stoops, cooking or hanging out laundry and my favorite, shoe shops that were no more than a tarp laid out and spread with a colorful selection of sandals and flip flops and tennis shoes.

The red clay roads through the countryside. 

Storefronts in the village, complete with live chickens for sale.

Going through Kampala

Roadside dress shop

They carry enormous weights on their heads!

 As we passed out of the larger towns and into the countryside on our one and a half hour journey from airport to camp, many of the tiny cobbled-together houses by the roadside had little shelves in their front windows or outside their front doors with just a small bunch of tomatoes, or a couple of pineapples, perhaps some onions or eggs.

I was sitting in the front seat so I had a chance to chat with our driver and all around Mr. Get Things Done in Uganda, Kevin. When folks go to the market, they bring back a little extra to sell in the neighborhood. The slight mark-up they charge is worth it to the housewife who doesn’t have transportation and would have to either pay a motorcycle taxi or walk there herself. I thought that was pretty ingenious.

Notice the little window shelves on the houses, with a few things to sell.

No matter who you are or where you live, everybody's got laundry.

We are staying at a small farm, in thatched roof huts called rondavels. The property is owned by an English couple and they built the extra out buildings for their daughters who are now grown, so they rent them out on a daily basis.

We do have electricity and running water and even hot water if you time your shower right. The water is heated by a wood-burning stove that is lit in the morning. The windows are open and without screens so every bed has a mosquito net. Since malaria is prevalent here, sleeping under the net is imperative, as is a liberally slathering with insect repellent in the early evening.

Our rondavel

Our camp, for all its rustic appeal, has one real luxury, a freshwater pool made out of local stones in greys and blues. It is set in a huge garden with one of the most majestic trees I have ever seen. At the end of our first hot, dusty day at school (more on that next week), all I could think about was a dip in the chilly pool.

The pool. Boy, howdy, is it cold! 

Notice the person at the bottom. She is 5-foot, 5-inches tall.

We finished our first afternoon in Uganda with a quick tour of the Masooli School and a hike down to the watering hole where the villagers fill jerry cans of water for their daily use. This seems to be the responsibility of the children, with even the littlest of them carrying a small plastic jug.

Heading down to the watering hole.

A local on the left, doing it right, and one of our group trying hard on the right.

We filled only one jerry can and six of us took turns carrying it back up the hill to the school. With every plodding and ungainly step we gained a greater appreciation of the blessing that is piped in water and the strength of those wee ones who carry an equal load. All alone. Every day.

Check out next week's Muffin Monday where I've added photos of the school and our work there.

Till next week!