My fig crop, revisited

Two years ago on UaKs, I wrote about the fig crop I gathered from one of my trees, which amounted to less than 20 small, but very tasty figs. I figured 2018 would be a banner year, since at least one of my trees had finally started bearing fruit. Alas, I got bupkus last year, and all of two measly little figs this year. And when I say measly, I'm not kidding:

I don't get it. C-ville Weekly recently published an article about "The figs of Fifeville," a C'ville neighborhood that apparently has fig trees (at least a dozen along public streets and more in residents' yards) producing like mad. The author and his sister gathered five pounds of fruit from just one tree there. And I've seen a row of five trees on UVA grounds that produce a lot of figs too. Meanwhile, I've gotten two minuscule figs from the pair of my trees combined in the past two years. Clearly, our house is not located in one of those pockets of the city where “marginally Mediterranean” growing conditions exist, allowing figs to thrive. How sad for your fig-lovin' daddy.

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I recently read an article in the Washington Post in which Joe Yonan absolutely raved about Amy Chaplin's first cookbook, At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen, which Yonan says he has recommended countless times since it came out five years ago. I didn't feel like trying the pasta recipe reprinted in the WaPo from Chaplin's new cookbook, but I was intrigued enough to take her first book out from the library. Because the book is 90% vegan, and all whole foods, there are a fair number of designer ingredients required, so I may not try many of the recipes. But we did have everything on hand to make these cookies, except for the brown rice syrup, but I figured we'd give that a try as it would be nice to have a dessert option that avoids white flour and sugar. And you can always substitute honey for the brown rice syrup if you want to try these and don't feel like making a special trip to the grocery. 

Mom and I both love these cookies, which I think are like granola in cookie form—except way better, according to Mom. Unfortunately for me, the cookies are gluten free, so Mom's sense of entitlement is operating in full force, and I was barely able to salvage one of the cookies we didn't eat the first night before Mom brought the rest to work with her for lunch. Good thing I just made another batch.

Looks more like unbaked granola than cookie batter

 

 

Use your fingers to help shape the cookies after you scoop them

Cherry Pecan Granola Cookies

Adapted from At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen (2014) by Amy Chaplin

Time: 40 minutes until they come out of the oven (without any resting time in the fridge)

Chaplin says you can dress these cookies up with the zest of an orange or a handful of chopped dark chocolate, but Mom and I like them as is. If your dried cherries aren't particularly soft and chewy, you can soak them in boiling water for a few minutes, then drain and dry them well before using. Toast raw pecan halves in a 300-degree oven just until fragrant and beginning to darken slightly, about 5 to 8 minutes; set a timer because nuts go from perfectly toasted to burnt in no time.

Dry ingredients

150 grams (1½ cups) toasted pecan halves, divided (see note)

150 grams (1½ cups) rolled oats, divided

33 grams (¼ cup) brown rice flour or gluten-free flour blend or all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking powder

80 grams dried cherries, halved if large (see note)

Wet ingredients

53 grams (¼ cup) extra-virgin olive oil or melted extra-virgin coconut oil

60 grams (3 tablespoons) brown rice syrup or honey

40 grams (2 tablespoons) maple syrup

12 grams (1 tablespoon) vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

    1. Place the oven racks in the middle two positions in the oven, and heat to 325 degrees. Line two 18-by-13-inch baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.

    2. Roughly chop or break 100 grams (1 cup) of the pecan halves into large pieces. Place the remaining 50 grams (½ cup) of the pecans in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal “s” blade. Add 50 grams (½ cup) of the rolled oats. Process until finely ground, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a medium  bowl. Add the remaining 100 grams (1 cup) oats, flour, cinnamon, and baking powder, and stir to combine.

    3. In a large bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together. Immediately dump the oat-flour mixture into the wet ingredients, and stir with a silicone spatula until evenly moistened. Stir in the pecan pieces and cherries until they are fairly evenly distributed. The mixture will be very loose at this point and will look more like unbaked granola than a typical cookie batter. If you have the time and patience, put the mixture in the fridge for up to 30 minutes to firm up some, but it will still work even if you don’t.

    4. Shape the cookies into 3-tablespoon mounds. A #20 (3 tablespoon) cookie scoop works very well for this job, which may be a little dicey without the scoop if you don’t park the batter in the fridge for a while. Even if use a scoop to form the mounds, it helps to shape the cookies a bit with your fingers to make sure they're not falling apart. You should have 15 mounds, spaced evenly around the two prepared sheet pans.

    5. Bake until the edges are golden and lightly browning, about 16 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 8 minutes. The cookies may still look a little wet and underdone when you take them out of the oven, but they will firm up as they cool. Transfer the sheets to wire racks and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the sheets and let cool completely on the racks. Makes 15 cookies.