Fig Dumplings

First, I was making an apple pie with apples from a local tree. I boiled them to make them soft enough for me to peel easily (arthritic fingers) and to be sure they would be cooked in the oven after the 20 minutes needed for the store bought pie crust.

So, I was all is set to go and I trimmed the crust to fit the pie tray. Bingo. I had quite a large amount of pastry left. And I had the rich apple juice left from boiling. In my fruit basket I had two elderly figs.

I remembered watching Chinese friends making dumplings by placing the pastry into boiling water. I wrapped the old figs in the pastry that was leftover, sank them slowly into the warm apple water. I brought the liquid to a boil, let it bubble until the pastry looked cooked. I left the balls to cool.

They were cooked but not too glamorous, so I further experimented by basting with the remains of some maple syrup and put them into the oven to brown. Wow, smashing, figs in pastry browned with maple syrup.

Super and all "natural". (You can make your pastry from scratch - not me)

By joanfry from France