Fig Dessert Pizza and Maple Coffee

fig dessert pizza

Here at Cooking with B.S. Corp. we like to pride ourselves on knowing what recipes our followers want. You've spoken up and we've listened to your pleas for more fig recipes. I would also like to point out this is the No. 1 fig based blog outside of the Middle East and would like to use this title to help solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but first coffee.

maple whipped cream coffee

Autumn came ushering in this year like a car swerving off the highway due to the first autumn rains. Instead of going outside and enjoying the crisp fall air, why not stay in drinking a hot cup of coffee with some maple whipped cream to top it off? And while you're enjoying your ideal fall drink, read through some of your favorite Cooking with B.S. posts and click on an ad or three. 

maple coffee

I fully endorse coffee with dessert and from what I've seen it's only my grandparents and their friends that partake in this post-dinner ritual. I wish more people my age would join in, but wishful thinking never solved anything except turning Pinocchio into a real boy.

figs

Kona coffee

maple whipped cream

Maple Whipped Cream Coffee

• 1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 tablespoon Maple Syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1. Add everything to a mixing bowl and whisk until it's all whippy. 
2. Add the delicious whipped cream to a cup of coffee.
3. Petition Starbucks to buy this recipe from me to replace the Pumpkin Spiced Latte as "The Fall Coffee Drink".

pizza dough

Fig and Goat Cheese Dessert Pizza

• 2 Figs quartered
• 3 oz. Goat Cheese crumbled
• 1 tablespoon Honey
• 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
• Pizza dough

1. Once again I used America's Test Kitchen's pizza dough recipe for this one. You can buy their new book, Cooking School Cookbook here!
2. Preheat the oven to 475°
3. Drizzle the honey over the stretched out pizza dough. Crumble on the goat cheese. Add the figs and sprinkle the cinnamon over the pizza.
4. Bake on a pizza baking stone for about 10 minutes or until the edges are crispy.
5. NOTE: the figs will make this pizza a little juicy so let the sugars cool and solidify before cutting into the dessert pizza.

dessert pizza

Things can change at a moment's notice; the weather, the season, the ripeness of figs, but instead of worrying about what's coming next, take time out of your busy schedule to enjoy something sweet and the post-dinner buzz of the world's favorite bean.  Enjoy!

All photos by THE

Katy Weaver

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This whipped cream looks like a grumpy old man.

maple whipped cream coffee

Fig, Goat Cheese, and Pancetta Flatbread Pizza

That's right another fig post. Bombarding your food blog followers with fig posts is one of the benefits of having a fig tree in your backyard. Another benefit of having a kadota fig tree is using them on homemade-artisan-flatbread pizza. 

Figs, goat cheese, and pancetta. You could probably put these three ingredients in any dish and make the dish taste like a party that everyone's invited to, except for Jared. He knows why he's not invited. But adding figs, goat cheese, and pancetta to a pizza just makes the pizza taste like sex on a jetski.

Apple Cider-Fig Vinaigrette

• 2 large Figs chopped 
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1. Heat the oil up in a pan over medium heat saute the figs for a few minutes, 3-5 should do it. 
2. Stir in the apple cider. Mash up the figs with your wooden spoon or whatever overpriced utensil you bought from West Elm.
3. Pour into a small mixing bowl and let the dressing cool in the fridge.
4. Once cooled, toss with the arugula and serve with tomatoes and radishes.

Pizza Dough 

I used America's Test Kitchen's recipe for my pizza dough. I recommend getting this recipe from their new cookbook The America's Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook which comes out on October 15th. Here's an Amazon link to it!

Fig, Goat Cheese, and Pancetta Flatbread Artisan Pizza (Fig Sauce)

• 4 Figs chopped 
• 1/2 small Red Onion minced 
• 1 clove Garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
• 1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Pepper freshly ground
• 1 tablespoon Honey

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic. Let the garlic and onion caramelize just a bit. OH GOD! You forgot about them didn't you? Would you look at that now they're burnt. Get out another onion and start over, or just let someone else cook.
2.  Once the onions and garlic are caramelized add everything else, stir, and let the sauce simmer for a good 10 minutes.
3. Let cool and add to your pizza crust.
4. Put sliced figs, goat cheese, red onions, and pancetta on your pizza and bake for about 10-15 minutes at 475°

Go ahead and have some fun with some end-of-the-season figs. Put them in everything! So much so that you get sick of them just in time to start binging on pumpkin spice flavored autumn products. As you might have assumed these figtastic (did I use this joke last week?) photos were taken by the super talented Katy Weaver.

Figgy Lamb

Yeah, that's right, I'm stepping up my culinary game and this is a damn sexy dish. Sure, I could hold myself back and make some quinoa and kale dish that could get a million pins on Pinterest, or I could make a bucket of bacon and get a million views on reddit, but why would I restrain myself when there's dishes like this to be made. This is a cooking blog and dammit I'm going to cook dishes that blow other blogs out of the water. Oh, and of course, this blog is for making jokes about nature's scrotums (figs).

Well I guess I should describe what makes up this piece of art. If you don't think food is art then you're probably Guy Fieri. These are lamb chops cooked in a fig and orange sauce on a bed of micro greens with a fig vinaigrette and on the side, baked carrots and purple potatoes with a cheese sauce. While you're reading this post just try to forget that time you ate a chicken nugget off the floor and just pretend you're a foodie.

Here's a fun fact about figs: if you want start a fruit fly farm just leave a plate of figs out overnight and soon you'll have enough fruit flies in your kitchen to be a fully functional and licensed fruit fly rancher. Your farm subsidies should get to you in 6-8 weeks. Also, you can sell the fruit fly milk at your local farmer's market.

Fig & Orange Lamb Chops

• 1/5 lbs Lamb Chops
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• 1/4 cup Port
• 2 Fresh Figs quartered
• 1 Orange
• cut 3 1in. zests
• juiced

1. In a small sauce pan add the port, orange zest, juice and figs. Cook on high, covered for 10 minutes. 
2. Place the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat, cook the butter until it starts to brown slightly. Add the lamb chops. Cook each side for roughly 30 seconds. Remove the chops from the pan and place them in a oven-proof pan along with the port and fig mixture.
3. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes.

Fig Vinaigrette

• 1 fresh Fig diced
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil

1. In a bowl mix all the ingredients together. To fully emulsify the dressing and pulverize the fig I recommend using a hand blender if you have one, or you can just throw it in a blender or food processor.

Baked Carrots and Purple Fingerlings

• 3 Carrots 
• 4 Purple Fingerling Potatoes
• 1 tablespoon Olive oil
• Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Toss the cut up vegetables in a mixing bowl with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Feel free to add a dash of cumin. Place in a oven proof cooking vessel and cook at 375° for 20 minutes. Half way through the cooking time flip the vegetables to avoid sticking.

Cheese Sauce

• 1/2 cup Cream
• 1/4 grated Manchego Cheese
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• A whisper of Whiskey

1. In a small skillet melt the butter over medium heat. Add the cream and cheese. Stir until melted. Once the cheese is melted stir in the whiskey. 
2. Add to anything you want to make taste better, including that beverage you're drinking right now. 

It's time for the moral of the post: don't hold yourself back. It does more harm than good. Also don't stress about the small things, if you have a loose structure to your project (or life), things will fall into place. This loose structure thing also applies to engineers - don't worry about the details, your plan for that highway overpass is good enough. 

Figgy photos by Katy Weaver

Port and Fig Chicken Salad Sandwich

This delicious leftover sandwich was made from last night's chicken from this recipe. The chicken in this salad was extra flavorful, because it was soaked overnight in the fig sauce. I pulled appart the chicken and added:

• 2 tablespoons of finely chopped red onion
• 1 carrot peeled
• 1/4 toasted walnuts (finely chopped)
• the leftover figs from the port and fig chicken recipe (about 6 figs cut into 4ths)
• the leftover sauce from last night's chicken
• 2 heaping table spoons of light mayo

Then just mix until everything is covered in the mayo and scoop onto some toast, bread or a plate.

Then toasted some sourdough bread and topped one slice with some medium sharp Tillamook cheddar cheese and some arugula. The end result is a high class sandwich made from leftovers.