Cinnamon and Fig Cookie Ice Cream
October 8, 2011
My notes: While making filling for fresh fig bars, my take on the famous “Fig Newtons,” I started dreaming up all sorts of delicious uses for the fig jam like swirling it into coffee cakes and ice cream, or in fig tarts and pies. I couldn’t resist the idea of adding chunks of my homemade fig cookies to cinnamon ice cream to create a new flavor. The cinnamon pastry of the fig bars along with its honey-cinnamon infused jam seemed like the perfect partner to mix in cinnamon ice cream. I quickly decided to whip up a batch before my cookies all but disappeared.
The base of this recipe is slightly adapted from “Cinnamon Ice Cream,” The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. If you are not familiar with the book, I highly recommend it, as it is highly informative and entertaining. It’s the first cookbook I actually read cover to cover. This post is linked to “Sweets for Saturday #39,” a delicious dessert party on Sweet as Sugar Cookies blog.
Cinnamon and Fig Cookie Ice Cream (recipe by “Oishii!”)
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh fig bars, chopped into 1″ squares
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3/4 cup sugar
- pinch of salt
- 10 cinnamon sticks about 3″ long
- 2 cups heavy cream, divided
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
Preparation
Put the chopped fig squares in the bottom of your ice cream storage container and freeze.
Heat a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Add the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks, and 1 cup of heavy cream. Stir well to allow the sugar to dissolve. Remove from heat once it begins to bubble. Cover and let it steep for an hour. Remove and discard the cinnamon sticks.
Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl and set aside.
Reheat the cinnamon liquid. Add the second cup of heavy cream to another large bowl, and set a fine mesh strainer on top. Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl. Slowly add the warm liquid to the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then add the egg yolk mixture back into the sauce pan. Over medium heat stir the mixture constantly with a wooden spoon (or a heat-resistant silicone spatula), until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Press the custard through the strainer with the spoon. Whisk in cinnamon powder until well incorporated. Set the custard over the ice bath. Stir until cool.
Refrigerate the custard 8 hours or overnight. Freeze it in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Fold in the fresh fig bar pieces. Freeze ice cream until solid.
What’s oishii? “Oishii” (pronounced “oy she”) is the Japanese word for delicious. I love sharing great recipes I discover from popular restaurants, cookbooks, food magazines (Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, etc.), tv shows, friends, family, and other blogs. I also develop my own. Please contact me if there is a recipe you would like the test kitchen to consider: michaelwbeyer@hotmail.com
Now it’s your turn. Have you ever created a new ice cream flavor? Do you have any fresh fig recipes to share? If you enjoyed this post, we would love to hear from you! Please leave some feedback in the comments section below. -Michael
Oh my goodness Michael – you are on a roll here with all of these wonderful fig recipes and so clever to use your fig bars for this ice cream. YUMMY!
Mandy
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
I can’t wait to try these recipes! I get fresh figs in my fruitshare pretty soon and I have never even had one! Excited! This is super creative
Hi Luanne! Thanks so much for stopping by “Oishii!” and joining on Facebook too. Your fruitshare sounds really cool. I imagine you are going to have a lot of apples coming your way soon. I’ll admit that cooking from the bounty of the harvest is something I’m working to get better at. It’s a true skill to incorporate in your cooking what is fresh at the market.
Hi Mandy! Thanks for making me smile. I can hardly wait until your fig tree produces fruit to see what you try out. By the way, I saw an interesting savory recipe too for a stuffed fig with a blue cheese and chorizo filling.
- Michael
I love the idea of a savoury recipe but alas I cannot enjoy blue cheese, although my hubby loves it!
Blue cheese is strong. I’m still learning to like goat cheese myself.
Here is the Fresh Fig Pie recipe, Michael. It was posted on Eat Like a Native dot com, which is a great site for Louisiana cooking!
FRESH FIG PIE
5 c. peeled figs, cut in half
1 tbsp. cornstarch
7 tbsp. sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
6 tbsp. butter
10 inch lattice-top pastry
1 tsp. cinnamon or apple spice
Select figs that are ripe and firm. Cut in half. Place figs in an unbaked 10 inch pastry shell.
Combine cornstarch, sugar and spice; sprinkle over figs. Add lemon juice and dot with butter.
Form lattice top with strips of pastry. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until brown.
I hope your friend with all the figs tries this and lets u know how it turned out!
BW
Thank you! I’ll check out Eat Like a Native’s site too. I could use a nice jambalaya recipe…!
Michael,
I would walk on my knees for homemade fig bars or ice cream with fig bars. Fig bars are my most favorite store-bought cookie. I can only imagine what home made ones must be like. Sadly, here in Mexico, when I do see figs in the store, they are about $8 a carton!
So I will have to content myself with gazing at your photo….
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen! Thanks so much for stopping by and for the gracious feedback. The bars are so soft they melt in your mouth and the course sugar on tops adds some more interesting texture. I thought I was in the minority about liking store-bought fig bars.
By the way, I was thinking of you recently because I noticed I have some of that wonderful cinnamony (is that a word?!) Mexican chocolate in my cupboard for your Ibarra Chocolate Ice Cream recipe. Must make it again. (I’ve made it twice so far). You are the reason I keep that ice cream maker bowl in my freezer permanently!
Thank you Michael for stopping by my blog so that I could discover yours
I love figs too but never thought of adding them to icecream and making yummy bars with them
Thank you for the inspiration
Hi Sawsan! You’re welcome and thank you for stopping by “Oishii!” I couldn’t help but admire all of your exquisite food photos. Now that’s inspiring!
[...] Ideas: Try using some of these bars in Cinnamon and Fig Cookies Ice Cream. [...]