Yogurt/Crème Fraîche With Fresh Figs & Cinnamon Maple Fig Butter

Autumn officially will arrive this coming Monday. Here in southwest France, the days may be still hot, but the evenings have a bit of a chill in the air. So serving food at a cool temperature but with some warming, sweet spices is a nice compromise. Our fig tree recently gave us a flush of ripe fruit, the third this season, and probably the final one.  As with the abundance of peaches earlier, making fruit butter is an effective way to process such a delicious deluge.

Ingredients
makes around a litre (a quart) of Cinnamon Maple Fig Butter

• Figs, whole, fresh, rinsed, 4 litres (4 quarts)
• Sugar, white, 8 T
• Maple Syrup, 2 T
• Cinnamon, 2 large pinches
• Ginger, 1 large pinch

For each serving:

• Yogurt, whole, plain, 8 T
• Crème fraîche, 2 T
• Fig, fresh, quartered for garnishing
• Icing sugar
• Maple syrup, a drizzle

Place the figs in a suitably sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan, preferably an enamelled cast-iron pot. It's fine if the pot is full. Cover and cook over medium heat for around ten minutes till mostly soft. Smash and crush the fruit with a large wooden spoon. Cook another ten minutes.

Working in batches and using a Foley mill, sieve the figs directly over a pot which fits the mill snugly. When finished sieving, ensure that the bottom of the sieve is scraped with a clean spoon. Put a handheld blender directly in the pot and blend till smooth.

Clean the pot in which the figs were softened and pour the sieved, blended figs into it. Add sugar, maple syrup, and spices. Cook, partially covered as to avoid splattering, over low heat, stirring every fifteen minutes or so, for around two hours or until the taste and consistency is to your preference. At first, it will have the colour of caramel which will deepen into a shade of chestnut. As it reduces, the flavour will intensify and start to resemble the rich one of dried figs, with notes of coffee and chocolate. Let cool a bit. Spoon into jars and store in the fridge where it will keep for a couple of weeks.

Fruit butters can be used in baked goods like muffins and simple cakes where they will add moisture and flavour. They are great spread on toast/crepes/crumpets or directly eaten with a spoon right from the jar! In that case, I highly recommend a chaser of a teaspoon of natural peanut butter following each teaspoon of fig butter. Any surplus can be frozen.

Mix yogurt and crème fraîche till smooth and creamy. Spoon into a serving dish. Put a heaping teaspoon of fig butter in the centre and four more spaced around the perimeter. Place the fig quarters in between the mounds of fig butter. Sprinkle with icing sugar and drizzle with maple syrup. Lovely, lovely, lovely! Not too sweet and not too luscious, just perfect, it make a wonderful breakfast, snack, or dessert. And I love the delicate crunch of the seeds.

À la prochaine!