Stuffed Figs with Goat Cheese

By blum099

Date Honey Syrup:
2 lbs. pitted dates
8 1/2 cups hot water, or more if needed
Total Time: 2 Hours 45 Minutes
Servings: 1 to 1 1/2 cups date honey
Kosher Key: Pareve

Place dates and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a low simmer and cook for 2 hours or until dates are very soft and starting to dissolve. If mixture begins to look dry, add a little more hot water; dates should be mostly covered by liquid throughout the process. By the end of cooking the liquid should be thick and brown.
Let the mixture cool to room temperature. Pour the liquid through a strainer lined with cheesecloth into a large mixing bowl.
Add small batches of dates to the cheesecloth (about 1 cup at a time) and give them a really good squeeze, trying to get out as much of the liquid as possible. Remove the pulp and continue with the remaining dates.
Clean out your saucepan and pour the strained date liquid back into it. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat a bit and simmer for another 20-30 minutes or until liquid thickens enough to coat the back of a cold spoon. It should have the consistency of thick maple syrup. Remove from heat.
Date honey will continue to thicken as it cools. Once it reaches room temperature, it should be similar to the consistency of honey. If the mixture isn't thick enough for you, feel free to warm it up again and resimmer. Careful not to overcook or overthicken.
Store date honey syrup in the refrigerator. Cold syrup will be quite thick, but it will soften quickly when brought out to room temperature.

Ingredients

• 12 fresh figs
• 4 oz. soft goat cheese (for vegetarian use cheese with a vegetarian rennet)
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup date honey, or you may substitute regular honey

Preparation

Step 1

Make a batch of date honey in advance of this recipe for best flavor, or you may substitute regular honey.
Preheat oven to broil. Trim off stems of figs and cut an "X" in the top of each fig 1/3 way through. Place the figs on a greased, parchment or silpat-lined sheet tray. If they are a little wobbly, you can shave a bit off the bottoms of the figs so they stand upright.
Place goat cheese in a plastic or piping bag and massage with warm hands until softened. Cut a tip off one of the bottom corners of the bag and pipe the cheese into each fig, dividing your 4 oz. cheese evenly between the 12 figs.
Lightly brush the figs with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt and a generous amount of freshly cracked black pepper.
Broil the figs for about 4 minutes or until you can see little brown bits on the goat cheese. Date honey or regular honey should be gently warmed in a small saucepan at this point, it should be easily pourable and warm but not hot.
Remove figs from oven and drizzle with warm date honey.
Serve warm or at room temperature.