cookie experiment: recipe five

"Shape is a good part of the fig's delight."-Jane Grigson

Curly fries, pinwheels, mid-meeting doodles--your love of all things swirly and fun might just contribute to your reputation as a free-spirit. We at PR, also like to stray from the straight and narrow occasionally. So, in honor of our fellow rebels, we conclude the great cookie experiment with a treat that will appeal to both your adult taste palate and youthful spirit. Martha Stewart's fig pinwheels recipe combines the sophistication of figs with a fun, whimsical shape that even the world's biggest rule follower (Martha, you know who you are) cannot refuse.

These cookies are great for fall due to their rich color and flavor but can be made during any season because they use dried figs. Unlike fresh figs which are typically only available until September, dried ones are readily available anytime of the year at your local specialty grocery store. I mixed dried Mission black figs and Turkish figs for a variety of colors and flavors. Feeling the autumn spirit (and a bit rebellious), I also substituted half of the golden raisins in the recipe with cranberries for a bolder flavor and color.

These cookies are fairly simple to make but they do require intermittent refrigeration steps to manipulate the dough, so patience is key. The filling looked and smelled amazing and would make a great topping on ice cream or cake. After running the filling through a food processor and spreading over the cookie dough, it was time to tackle the most complicated step: the swirls. Admittedly, my swirls look nothing like Martha's. The trick to achieving swirl greatness is to only refrigerate your dough and filling for 30 minutes--just enough time to have firm but pliable dough. I left my cookies in the refrigerator too long, and the dough started to break during rolling. While, the cookies might have turned out lopsided, they tasted great. These cookies have a shortbread consistency and the buttery richness of the cookie works great with the sweet fig filling--a must-try for adults, kids and even kid-like adults.

image source: RW

-RW

Comments

[cc]

looks delish!

[StyleGal]

ME WANT COOKIE!!!! Awww...I'm sad this is the last cookie post. I've loved all of them. What's next for foodie corner???

[SD]

Thanks, Stylegal! We have a great series coming up for the autumn weather. Stay tuned...