There are three kinds of baked sweets I can recall from my packed lunches as a kid – my mom’s homemade muffins, strawberry newtons and fig newtons. When it came to the newtons, the strawberry ones made sense to me, but I thought fig was a made up flavor. I had never seen or eaten a fig before.
Last week I had my first taste of fig and played in the kitchen with them. They look so beautiful photographed. When figs started showing up at my local grocer this season, I took them home on a whim. Not sure what to make with them, they sat overnight and were spoiled by the next day. Fragile little things, they are.
Determined to try them, I sketched out a jam recipe adapted from Tasty Yummies. As I cut and prepped the figs, I nerd-ishly explored their flavor and scent profile. The resulting jam was tasty. After popping it in the fridge, I had dreams of cinnamon rolls and honey plum jam dance in my head all night.
Honey fig jam rolls are born of sophisticated, sweet dreams. They are a little like a mash-up of honey buns and fig newtons. Here you have honey fig jam tucked into blanket-y sweet roll dough and drizzled with velvety lemon frosting,
Yields 9 rolls
Honey fig jam tucked into blanket-y sweet roll dough and drizzled with velvety lemon frosting.
25 minPrep Time
20 minCook Time
45 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 2 ¾ cup flour
- 2 Tbs sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 package instant yeast
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 Tb butter, unsalted
- 1 egg
- 2 Tb butter, melted
- 1 cup honey fig jam* (recipe in notes)
- ½ - ¾ cup confectioners sugar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- warm water, if desired - a little to achieve consistency and tone done zestiness
Instructions
- Prepare the jam. The recipe makes 2 cups. Only one is needed for the rolls so make two batches of rolls, make a second batch of rolls soon or use your jam for other goodies.
- Mix all the dry dough ingredients together in a medium size bowl. In a microwave safe bowl, combine the water, milk and butter. Heat for 45 seconds, or until the butter is melted. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry mix. Stir the egg in. Knead the dough for 4 minutes. Dough should get smooth, have a bit of grip and bounce. Rest the dough in a lightly greased bowl for 5 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
- After the dough has rested, roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 9x15 inches. Spread the melted butter over the dough. Then spread about 1 cup of fig jam over top the butter on the dough. Leave 1 inch without jam on one of the long sides of the rectangle; this will be the seam. Starting at the long, not seam side, begin rolling the dough jelly roll style. End the log roll with the seam side down. Use a sharp, floured knife to cut the log into 9 sections to make rolls.
- Place rolls into a 9x9 inch pan lightly greased and covered with greased parchment paper. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Turn off the oven and place the covered pan of rolls in the oven to rise for 20 minutes.
- After rising, remove the aluminum cover from the rolls and leave in oven while turning on to 375 degrees F. Bake 16-20 minutes until the rolls just start to get golden. Remove from oven and top rolls with drizzle.
- To make frosting, combine sugar and lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk together and add in warm water to adjust consistency and taste.
Notes
Honey Fig Jam* - recipe makes 2 cups jam Adapted from Tasty-Yummies.com 15 figs, stems removed and quartered (1 Lb), ¾ cup honey, ⅛ cup water, ¼ cup lemon juice, 1 tsp lemon zest
Place figs, honey and water in a medium saucepan. Let sit and soften for 20 minutes. Then place over burner on medium-high heat. Bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Reduce to low and keep on a simmer for 45 minutes. Stir often. Mash figs with a spoon while they cook. After 45 minutes, keeping pan on the heat, stir in lemon juice and zest. Simmer an additional 3 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Place cooled jam in jars. Store in the refrigerator for 3 weeks or the freezer for 3 months.
