Figgy Delight

Honey and Co., a popular London bakery that features familiar sweets with a Middle Eastern twist, has been thrilling patrons since 2012. The proprietors, Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich, enthusiastically share their recipes, both in their four cookbooks and magazine features, which is how I discovered them. The business has continued to gain momentum with two additional outposts, Honey & Smoke (a grill house) and Honey & Spice (their dream grocery).

The recipe below comes from their namesake location. I was intrigued to try it as it can be made with either fig jam or any red jam (such as cherry or raspberry). This is also a fun crumble to make with kids because it comes together with an easy touch. Even the youngest of bakers can participate—no refined skills necessary. The result? A fantastic snack or dessert that may be easily devoured not long after it comes out of the oven!

Fig and Walnut Bar

Ingredients

For the base dough

  • .8 cup light wholemeal flour or plain flour
  • 5 ½ tablespoons room temperature butter, diced
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 2/3 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 whole star anise, ground (about ½ teaspoon)
  • 2 ½ tablespoons sour cream

 

For the filling

  • 2 ½ tablespoons fig jam, or sour cherry jam (or other red jam)
  • ¼ cup dried sour cherries, soaked in ½ cup boiling water (only use if you’re making it with sour cherry jam)

 

Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a standard-size loaf tin with parchment paper.
  2. Place all the ingredients for the dough in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment and work until you form a rough ball – this can also be done by hand. Take about 1 ½ cups of this dough and crumble it all over the base of the loaf tin. Press down to flatten it a little, but try not to compress the dough.
  3. Top with the jam and the drained sour cherries (if using), then crumble the rest of the dough all over the top in little clumps to form a rough topping with some of the jam showing through.
  4. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then rotate the tin and bake for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin before lifting out and cutting into 6 fingers, or into smaller pieces if you prefer.
Letting it cool.
Ready to serve!

Special Note: Feature Image for this blog post courtesy of Antonio Jose Cespedes at Pixabay.