Many many years ago, my father took me to my grandmother’s, his mother, to spend the day as usual. He with his brothers would go every Saturday to help their father work around their property. There were chicken coops to clean, grass to cut, trees to trim, and miscellaneous chores to keep their home and acreage pristine. (That did not include killing the chickens for Sunday dinner since that was for my grandmother to do on Sunday morning.)
Of course, I spent my day inside with my grandmother getting the meal prepped for the Sunday family dinner and get-together. My favorite part was watching her make all the desserts. I was only six years old when this started and was not much help to her, but I did stay out of her way even though I thought I was helping.
I was so excited putting the small circles on the cookie sheet and then adding the fig jam to each of the discs. They only took about 15 minutes to bake, and wow, I had my very own desserts to serve on Sunday!
She made my mini pies look incredibly special; we sprinkled them with powdered sugar, and she put a beautiful white doily on the silver tray. When the family all came for Sunday dinner, nonna made it a fun time for me and let me serve my impressive Mini Fig Pies to the whole family at dessert time.
As the years passed, I kept going with my dad to nonna’s until the time came when nonna went to heaven. I am now eighty-one and still remember those incredible Saturdays and Sundays and even make My Mini Fig Pies now with my granddaughter!
My Mini Fig Pies
Ingredients
- •113 grams (4 ounces) softened butter
- •118 ml (1/2 cup) brown sugar
- •1 egg
- •2.5 ml (½ tablespoon) baking powder
- •473 ml (2 cups) all-purpose flour
- •241 grams (8½ ounce) jar thick fig jam
- •Powdered sugar, for sprinkling
Preparation
Combine the softened butter and brown sugar in a mix master with a paddle attachment. Add the egg and blend well.
Add the baking powder to the flour. Slowly add the flour mixture to the other combined mixture until a sweet dough is formed. Place the dough on a mixing board.
Knead dough until it becomes smooth and firm. Elongate the dough and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for about an hour before using it. (At this point, the dough could be refrigerated for days or frozen.)
Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Cut a portion of the dough to fit through your dough machine or roll it out by hand to about ¼-inch thickness.
Using your favorite cookie cutter, 2 inches in diameter, cut out each pie and place it on the cookie sheet. Finish cutting the discs using all the dough.
Add a dollop of fig jam to each disc and bake for about 10 to 15 minutes at 350°. Sprinkle them with powdered sugar after the pies are cooled.
When storing, use foil between the layers so the mini pies do not adhere to each other. To keep, place in an airtight container.
Now, the sweet smell of success is yours.
