Baked Brie with Wine-Candied Figs

in Appetizers, Brie, Condiments, Figs, Wine
Wine Candied Figs with Baked Brie

The only difference between summer in southeast Texas and fall in southeast Texas is about 8-10 degrees. That’s it. So while everyone else is apple pie-ing and pumpkin bread-ing, I’m still eggplant-ing and fig-ing. It won’t be cool enough for boot-ing and scarv-ing for at least another 4-6 weeks.

I do still have a functioning garden full of peppers, eggplants, and figs. Good with the bad, I guess.

The good is really good, though. Supermarket fig season is probably one of the shortest seasons of any produce. But it’s a completely different story when you have a fig tree in your backyard. We just started picking figs from harvest #3.

Baked Brie with Wine-Candied Figs

A couple of months ago, I set out to make boozy fig preserves but changed course when I realized that I didn’t have quite enough sugar or quite enough desire to put pants on to go buy sugar. So instead of cooking the figs down to a sweet, boozy, and spreadable obliteration, I cooked them candied them in a sweet, boozy syrup.

My favorite way to eat candied figs is over a warmed wheel of brie. Just add pita chips and a bottle of white wine to round out the food groups. It was amazing on a panini with bacon and goat cheese – a BGCF, if you will (you won’t). It made a bowl of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla extra indulgent.

I also reheated a jar with a teeeeeny bit of finely chopped habanero to give it some heat and served it with grilled pork chops. There are no wrong answers here.

Wine-Candied Figs with Baked Brie

The color of your final product is going to depend on the color of your figs. My brown celeste figs yielded an almost candy-red syrup. The preserves from the original recipe were a beautiful purple.

And I didn’t do anything special to can them for long term storage – let’s be real, they’re not exactly gonna stick around for long in your house either. But if you want to store them long-term, brush up on your sterilizing and water bath and head space details before getting started.

Wine-Candied Figs

Fresh figs are candied in a sweet, Madeira-spiked syrup into a condiment versatile enough to serve on top of ice cream, a warm wheel of brie, or on top of grilled pork chops or chicken.

Ingredients

  • 3 lb figs, trimmed and halved (large ones quartered)
  • 3 cups sugar
  • Zest and juice of 1 large orange (about 1/2 cup juice)
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 1/2 cup of lemon juice (~3 lemons)
  • 3/4 cup Madeira wine

Instructions

  1. Add the sugar, orange juice, lemon juice, and wine to a large pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.
  2. Add the figs and cook for ~5 minutes, until softened. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the figs to a bowl.
  3. Add the orange and lemon zests to the syrup in the pot and bring to a boil.
  4. Reduce heat and let the syrup reduce by half.
  5. Add the figs back to the pot and gently stir to heat through.
  6. Divide the figs evenly between 4-5 half pint jars.
  7. Divide the syrup between the jars and let cool. Cover and store in the fridge - will keep for at least 2 months.
  8. If canning to store for up to a year, start with hot sterilized jars and then process in water bath for 10 minutes. Consult a "canning best practices" for further details.
  9. Serve warmed over a scoop of ice cream, serve over a wheel of baked brie.

Notes

Yields: ~5 half pint jars

Adapted from Williams Sonoma

Estimated time: 45 minutes

1 comment… add one
  • Oh I wish I had fig tree 🙂 these candied figs can be used with so many things

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