Stuffed Figs
Use whole preserved figs. Drain the juice from them. Split half way through and fill the space with fondant or marshmallow whip and chopped nuts. Arrange on a dessert platter and surround with whipped cream.
A no-cook dessert built from pantry stock, and the only real technique in it is getting the figs dry enough to hold a filling.
- Preserved figsThese are whole figs put up in heavy syrup, sold in jars or cans and still stocked in Middle Eastern and Southern groceries. Dried Calimyrna or Black Mission figs are not the same thing; if you use them, plump them in hot water or wine for 20 minutes first and pat dry.
- Drain properlyDrain in a sieve, then blot the figs inside and out on paper towels. Syrup left clinging will thin the marshmallow creme and slump the whipped cream on the platter.
- Marshmallow whipJarred marshmallow creme, as the editor's note says. A stiff seven-minute frosting or Italian meringue will do the same job if the figs are already syrupy.
- FondantHere this means a kneadable cooked sugar paste of the kind period cookbooks give recipes for. Rolled fondant from the baking aisle works, softened slightly in the hands; poured fondant is too loose to hold in a split fig.
- Split half way throughCut from the stem end down, leaving the base intact so the fig sits upright like a small purse. Cutting all the way through gives you two halves that roll over on the platter.
- NutsWalnuts, pecans or pistachios, chopped fine and folded into the filling rather than scattered on top, so the pieces do not shed. Toasting them briefly gives some contrast to what is otherwise a very sweet mouthful.
- Whipped creamLeave it unsweetened, or nearly so. Everything else on the plate is sugar, and the cream is the only thing cutting it.
- Yield and timingFigure two to three stuffed figs per person. Fill the figs up to a few hours ahead and refrigerate, but pipe or spoon the cream around them just before they go to the table.
Cook and Be Cool belongs to a genre of American cookbooks organised around summer menus and the problem of feeding people without lighting the stove. Its "Emergency Shelf" — a standing inventory of jars and tins that could be assembled into a course at short notice — reflects a household in which dessert might be needed at little notice. Preserved figs, marshmallow creme and fondant were all shelf-stable, all sweet, and all needed nothing but a knife, which is precisely why they end up in the same dish. Stuffed fruit of this kind was a fixture of the era's dessert and confection chapters, where dates, prunes and figs were routinely split and filled with nuts and fondant and served as sweetmeats after dinner; the addition of whipped cream is what promotes this version from candy to a plated course.