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Nut and Fig Sandwiches
Take equal quantities of chopped figs and almonds. Make a paste by using a little thick sweet cream. Figs may be cut with a pair of floured scissors or the chopper may be floured to prevent sticking. Dates may be used instead of figs.
A filling rather than a finished sandwich; the original assumes you know to spread it on thin buttered bread and trim the crusts. A few gaps worth closing.
- Quantities and yieldThe recipe gives no measures; equal quantities by volume, say a cup of chopped dried figs to a cup of almonds, is a workable starting point and will fill a good number of small tea sandwiches. Add cream a tablespoon at a time — the paste should hold together, not slump.
- "Sweet cream"This means fresh, unsoured cream as opposed to the soured or cultured cream also kept in period kitchens. Heavy cream is the direct equivalent.
- The almondsThe recipe does not say whether to blanch; blanched almonds give a milder result that sits well against the sweetness of the fig. Toasting them first is not called for here but improves the flavour considerably.
- ChoppingThe flour trick still works, and a food processor handles this in seconds — pulse the almonds first to a coarse meal, then add the figs so they do not turn to a single gummy mass.
- Dried figs todayMission and Calimyrna figs sold now are usually softer than the pressed cakes of dried figs common a century ago, so you may need less cream than expected. Snip off the hard stem ends.
- BreadWhite sandwich bread cut thin and buttered on both faces keeps the moist filling from soaking through. Assemble no more than a few hours ahead and keep covered with a damp cloth.
- KeepingThe filling itself, because of the cream, belongs in the refrigerator and should be used within two days.
Sandwiches of this kind belong to the age of the church social and the afternoon tea, and the Sandwiches chapter of a congregational cookbook like this one is essentially a catalogue of things that could be made in quantity, cut small, and carried to a parish hall. Dried figs and almonds were among the few reliably available imported goods — shelf-stable, sold by the pound from barrels and boxes, and sweet enough to stand in for the more expensive confections. The instruction to flour the scissors is the sort of detail that marks a recipe as having actually been used: pressed dried figs of the period were dense and sticky, and a floured blade was a common household answer, the same trick often applied to cutting marshmallows and candied peel.