Gettin' Figgy Wit' It

The internet has changed how we cook. Before the internet, I might've gone to the store and seen figs (as I did the other day) and said, "Wow, those look nice, but I have no idea what to do with them." Now, because of the internet, I bought the figs, brought them home, Googled "fig dessert recipe" and found this one from Kim Goodfriend on KQED. It's a super easy, super-awesome recipe that takes no time and requires little effort. Sound good? Let's get figgy wit' it.

Now Kim has you use a vanilla bean, but those are expensive so unless you have company just do what I did and sub a splash of good vanilla extract. Also, she says you should use black super-ripe figs. Here's what you do:

1. Butter a baking dish and preheat the oven to 375.

2. Take your figs and cut them into quarters, but not all the way through, so they look like flowers. Place them in the baking dish and zest an orange over them:

3. In a bowl mix the juice from the orange with a splash of vanilla and 1/4 cup of honey. Pour over the figs:

4. Pop in the oven and bake for 10 minutes; then baste with a spoon, put it back in for 10 to 15 minutes until fruit is "soft and oozing juices." Then take out and let cool.

Look how sexy they are:

5. Place some in a bowl, pour a drizzle of the cooking liquid on top and then crown with some creme fraiche:

It's a dynamite dessert but I have news: it gets even better the next day. My suggestion? If you've having a small dinner party, do these figs the day before, put them in the refrigerator and then, the next day, when you've cleared the dinner plates take this out and serve it like this or on top of vanilla ice cream. Your guests will scream with delight and then they'll take their pants off and you'll get figgy wit' it fo' real. You can thank me later.