Chocolate-dipped Stuffed Figs

I first saw these little delights in a small corner grocery store in the old town of Seville in Spain and had to buy a box. I shared them with the friends we were travelling with, who insisted that I came up with a recipe when I returned home and here it is.

Serve them for dessert with chilled rich muscatel dessert-style sherry.

(Makes 30)

Ingredients

• 70ml (4 tbsp + 2 tsp) cream
• 125g 70% dark chocolate (coarsely chopped)
• 10ml (2 tsp) Cointreau
• 1½ tsp finely grated orange zest
• 500g (30) plump dried figs
• 150g 70% dark chocolate (coarsely chopped)

Method

To make ganache, place cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat to just below boiling point. Remove from heat and add first measure of chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted and has amalgamated with cream. (You may need to return saucepan to low heat for a short time if chocolate does not fully melt.) Add Cointreau and orange zest and stir well to combine.

Pour mixture into a low-sided roasting tray and leave in a cool place (but not the refrigerator) to cool as quickly as possible. As it cools it will thicken and eventually set.

In a coolish room and working quickly, roll the almost-set ganache into 30 walnut-sized balls. If possible, wear washable cotton gloves as the heat of your hand may melt ganache. Place balls on a tray and refrigerate for 15–30 minutes or until firm.

Mould each fig with your fingers to enhance the rounded fig shape. Make a cut one-third of the way up the sides of each fig, beginning at the nonstalk end, to form a pocket for the ganache. Place a ganache ball in centre of each fig and reshape fig to give it a flat base and ensure it sits upright.

Line a tray with Teflon or aluminium foil. Place second measure of chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan containing a small amount of water. Place saucepan over low heat, stirring chocolate occasionally, until chocolate is about half melted. Remove bowl from heat and stir until chocolate has completely melted.

Holding stalk of one fig at a time, dip it into melted chocolate to threequarters of the way up the sides. Gently shake off excess chocolate. Transfer to prepared tray and cool until chocolate is set.

Store in an airtight container in refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Wine match

Pinot Noir
Wooing Tree Beetle Juice 2010

Reproduced with permission from Ruth Pretty Cooks at Home by Ruth Pretty.
Published by Penguin Group NZ.
Copyright © text, Ruth Pretty, 2012.