I’m not sure if it’s because of my Middle Eastern background (figs are said to have originated there) but while I’m not generally a lover of fruit, I simply adore figs and can’t get enough.
So in that short window during late summer when they come into season, I make the most of them!
Here are 5 of my favourite ways to eat them:
– Fresh and as is.
– For brunch with some prosciutto, goats or ricotta cheese, a drizzle of EVOO and a good crack of black pepper.
– In a rocket salad with some blue cheese and walnuts and balsamic olive oil dressing.
– For breakfast chopped into some yoghurt with some cinnamon, buckinis and a handful of nuts and seeds.
The beauty of this cheesecake slice recipe is that once fig season is over you can replace figs with any of your favourite fruits. My personal favourites are fresh berries, chopped or sliced mango, or passionfruit.
If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration, take a look at my new recipe ebook which is getting rave reviews, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes. It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved!
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
Sweet Short Crust Pastry
- 1 cup white spelt flour
- 100 grams butter chilled and chopped
- 1 tablespoon rapadura sugar
- pinch sea salt
- ¼ cup ice water 40 grams
Cheesecake Filling
- 125 grams cream cheese
- 125 grams mascarpone cheese or you can just use just 250 grams either mascarpone or cream cheese
- ¼ cup rapadura sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice optional
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean powder
Fig Topping
- 5 figs medium, halved
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ground cinnamon
Instructions
Sweet Short Crust Pastry
- Pop the spelt flour, butter, sugar and salt to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Keep running the food processor and pour the ice water through the feed tube until the mixture and keep processing until a ball of dough forms.
- Pop the dough into a bowl and refrigerate for around half an hour .
- When ready to cook, preheat oven to 175 C and grease and line a 19cm x 19cm square tin with baking paper.
- Flour your kitchen surface and roll out the dough to fit the tin.
Cheesecake Filling
- Whisk together the cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, rapadura sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla extract.
- Scoop the cheesecake batter on top of the pastry then cook in oven for 30-40 minutes or until cheese is set and dough is lightly golden. Allow to cool.
Fig Topping
- You have two options here. You can slice up some fresh figs and arrange on top of the cheesecake slice and drizzle with honey. Or, halve the figs, place in a baking tin, sprinkle over some cinnamon, drizzle over the honey and grill for a couple of minutes. Once cool arrange on top of the slice.
- Put slice in fridge to further set.
Notes
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About the Author: Brenda Janschek
