Fig Rolls

My mum always used to buy us fig rolls when we were little, or that's how it seems to me now. I loved them, even though I didn't like fresh figs. My sister believes that dad told us we didn't like fresh figs so he didn't have to share the ones from his fig tree with us. Cynical? Possibly, but now I know how good home grown figs are, I am inclined to agree - I am very possessive of my fig tree.

Anyway, I digress. Fig rolls seemed like a great idea for a new bake, as dried figs are a good source of calcium and iron. If the girls like them I can feel a bit less guilty putting these in their lunch boxes (chocolate chip cookies don't have much goodness in them, methinks). I had a large number of egg yolks left over from my (appallingly bad) attempt at meringues today, so these were put to good use in the pastry.

Ingredients

250g plain flour

150g soya margarine

65g light brown soft sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 egg yolks

150g soft dried figs

A little lemon juice

Method

Rub the flour and margarine together to make crumbs, then stir in the sugar.

Mix the vanilla and egg yolks together, then add to the crumbs, mixing to make a soft dough.

Chill in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour.

Cut the hard stems off the figs and place in a saucepan with 100ml water.

Simmer until the figs have absorbed the water and softened, a good 10 minutes. Let cool.

Add a squeeze of lemon juice to the figs, then put them in the blender to make a thick paste.

Roll the chilled dough out into a long strip about 15cm wide, then split it into 2 strips with a sharp knife. Spread half of the fig paste on each strip and roll together to make a long sausage. Cut into about 12 biscuits and place on a lined baking tray. Cut 2 slits in the top of each biscuit with a sharp knife. Repeat with the other strip of pastry and paste. Bake at 190c for about 15 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.

They tasted right, but the pastry was a little thick - I was expecting this, as it was very fragile and difficult to roll out. Not bad though.