Recipes for using Ripe figs

I have a friend with 3 fig trees and at most she eats 1 fig a week.

Figs *don't* ripen off the tree, and the riper you pick them (read splitting and very soft) the sweeter and yummier they are.  So I've been over picking figs several times and thought I'd look up what permies do with them. Horrors - there seems to only be permies threads about unripe figs (unless I simply failed to find it). That won't do!

Fig Squares

Chop and boil down a bunch of figs until as thick as apple sauce.
Measure 3 cups of the sauce
Mix in 1/2 cup brown sugar and set aside.

Cream:
1/2 cup Brown sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 egg

Mix
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

Add the mix to 4 cups of rolled oats.

Add to the creamed mixture and blend well.

Spread 3/4 of the oat mixture in a 9x13 pyrex pan and press down well.
Spread the fig mixture on top evenly.
Sprinkle the remains of the oat mixture on top of the figs (Ok, more like drop little lumps of it, as it doesn't exactly "sprinkle".)

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

This was a big hit. The base recipe if from an late 1940's recipe book and was for date squares (some called them Matrimonial Squares) but I've used it with cranberries before. I think that coming out of the war, recipes used less sugar which is why I can eat this (I can't touch commercial date squares due to the sugar content.)

The fig season here is incredibly short, so I'm trying to make the most of it! So fellow pemies, what recipes do you use???

(Yes, I eat some straight from the tree, but my body doesn't like me eating more than 1 every couple of days and I've learned *not* to argue with my body!)

I cut them in half and freeze them. Then serve, still frozen, with yogurt and a few chopped walnuts.

Best on a very hot day, with the figs still frozen, like ice-cream.

I wish I lived near you, Jay.

I love figs, especially right off the tree.

Your fig squares sound yummy.

It have been quite a while since I have seen a fig tree so I am not sure how I cooked with them.

I remember freezing them for later use.

The only thing I thing I fixed with them was cobbler because it is the easiest.

I had a recipe called Essie's Cobbler that I used for everything.

This might be the same recipe:

https://www.cooks.com/recipe/y60a86gl/essies-cobbler.html

I bet figs would be good with my Clafoutis recipe:

https://permies.com/t/101228/RECIPE-Simple-Clafoutis

My mother made fig pinwheel cookies when I was a kid.  This was in West Virginia I don't think we had fig trees, most likely she used dried figs.  I think it was some kind of sugar dough which was a light brown color, maybe she used molasses. (I remember that they were a little sticky to touch).

I don't have the recipe, don't know if she ever had  it written down and I gave away her file box.  But they were very good cookies!


Peace

Let me introduce to you a typical christmas sweet of ours:
Fig Bread!

An online DIY recipe says:
200g shredded dry figs.
50g whole almonds.
Flavorings:
15ml sweet wine.
5g aniseed.
3g cinnamon powder.
Orange zest.

(You may use other flavorings if these are hard to find in your location).

Mix everything and compact it into a cake shape. Keep it in a container that prevents drying and wait until Xmas. Pretty energetic stuff good for cold season.

EDIT: I forgot. Figs have to be cooked first, removed the hard sticks, dried again in the oven, then shredded into a paste.

I forgot to mention the way I was introduced to eating firs ...

Fig preserves were made by several family members and cherished by me ...

Buttered toast and fig preserves, it doesn't get better than that ...

Mmm, I agree with Anne about fig preserves. I have fond memories of eating my grandmother's preserves made from her fig bush.

And I'm jealous at the moment because bugs are getting into all of my figs, and they're fermenting on the bush before they're ripe.

My favorite figgy baked good is chai fig muffins. I simmered figs until they were thickened, pureed them, and subbed them for bananas in this quick bread recipe: https://theculinarycellar.com/christopher-kimballs-cardamom-banana-bread/
Instead of the cardamom called for, I use a teaspoon of chai seasoning and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. I also cut back on the sugar by at least 1/4 cup.

My family also likes when I chop and dehydrate figs. They mix well into granola or as a snack if you like sticky dried fruit