It's in the Bag!

Fichi Interi in Pasta Sfoglia 

Individually Baked Whole Figs

This little sack is full of riches- but I didn't have to rob a bank to get it! Nope- the only thing I did have to do was to be a penny-pincher again and think creative thoughts rather than throwing away a 5" strip of left-over puff pastry from making the peach and fig tart in my previous post...

Indeed, I had one strip of pastry and one fig left over... so it didn't take much thinking-over to figure out what the best thing to do was! And trust me people... the result of this little experiment convinced me that it was definitely the best possible thing to do!

So simple there is no real directions required here... but here goes all the same! Lay the fig on its side at one end of your strip of pastry and roll it up until the ends overlap and cut off the excess. Fold the edges over at one end to form the base and cleanly slice off the excess with a sharp knife to form a base. Now pinch the pastry together at the top to form the shape of this little sack of goodies. Cut a thin strip from the left over pastry to wrap around the area that the pastry is pinched together to give it a nice trim... and that's it!

Bake at around 300° on a low shelf for 20-25 minutes, so that the pastry bakes evenly and doesn't just bake and brown at the top and remain pale down below. Once the pastry is firm and golden brown on top, you can very gently lay it on its side and give it a little color all the way around under the broiler if you prefer.

In any case- the fig becomes so rich and juicy with the heat of the oven cooking the insides and there not being any way for the juices to escape, the the pastry is juicy indeed when you cut into it! You might enjoy it with some ice cream or vanilla sauce or simply as it is... just add a light dusting on cinnamon and you have a lovely, simple sweet treat right there as if by magic!