I’m not sure if it’s because of my Middle Eastern background (figs are said to have originated there) but while I’m not generally a lover of fruit, I simply adore figs and can’t get enough.

So in that short window during late summer when they come into season, I make the most of them!

Here are 5 of my favourite ways to eat them:

1. Fresh and as is.
2. For brunch with some prosciutto, goats or ricotta cheese, a drizzle of EVOO and a good crack of black pepper.
3. In a rocket salad with some blue cheese and walnuts and balsamic olive oil dressing.
4. For breakfast chopped into some yoghurt with some cinnamon, buckinis and a handful of nuts and seeds.
5. My new recipe for Honeyed Fig Cheesecake Slice. The beauty of this recipe is that once fig season is over you can replace figs with any of your favourite fruits. My personal favourites are fresh berries, chopped or sliced mango, or passionfruit.

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration, take a look at my new recipe ebook which is getting rave reviews, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes.

It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved!

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Spelt flour
Rapadura sugar
Sea salt
Vanilla powder
Raw Honey
Cinnamon

Print

Honeyed Fig Cheesecake Slice

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

Sweet Short Crust Pastry

• 1 cup spelt flour
• 100 grams butter chilled and chopped
• 1 tablespoon rapadura sugar
• pinch sea salt
• 1/4 cup ice water 40 grams

Cheesecake Filling

• 125 grams cream cheese
• 125 grams marsrcapone cheese
• or you can just use just 250 grams either marscapone or cream cheese
• 1/4 cup rapadura sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice optional
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest optional
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Fig Topping

• Around 5 medium figs halved
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Cinnamon

Instructions

Directions Sweet Short Crust Pastry

• Pop the spelt flour, butter, sugar and salt to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Keep running the food processor and pour the ice water through the feed tube until the mixture and keep processing until a ball of dough forms.
• Pop the dough into a bowl and refrigerate for around half an hour .
• When ready to cook, preheat oven to 175 C and grease and line a 19cm x 19cm square tin with baking paper.
• Flour your kitchen surface and roll out the dough to fit the tin.

Directions Cheesecake Filling

• Whisk together the cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, rapadura sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla extract.
• Scoop the cheesecake batter on top of the pastry then cook in oven for 30-40 minutes or until cheese is set and dough is lightly golden. Allow to cool.

Directions Fig Topping

• You have two options here. You can slice up some fresh figs and arrange on top of the cheesecake slice and drizzle with honey. Or, halve the figs, place in a baking tin, sprinkle over some cinnamon, drizzle over the honey and grill for a couple of minutes. Once cool arrange on top of the slice.
• Put slice in fridge to further set.

Notes

Replace fig toppings with your favourite fruit. Fresh berries or mango make a perfect topping.

If you make this recipe please do take photos and send them to me.

If you share them on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek. Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook. I get a total kick out of seeing you bring my recipes to life. 

And remember, if you haven’t already, grab your copy of Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes here.

Other similar recipes you might like are Raspberry Swirl Slice and Apple Crumble Slice.

Bren x

The current bout of inclement weather therefore comes at a wonderful time for me because it coincides with my current goal to use up whatever I’ve got in the pantry.

So, with two big jars of peanut butter staring at me (my kids claim not to like the stuff .. as if), a healthy version of a Blondie was inspired. Not everything turns out as intended in these circumstances, and even though I thought this little experiment hadn’t gone quite right, it ended up being a winner according the family, and much better than what was originally planned. Win!

Once completely cooled and cut up, the texture wasn’t quite as soft and fudgey like a blondie should be and I thought it was back to the drawing board. However, my taste-testers loved it, and demanded the recipe remain unchanged.

And so, the Blondie Biscuit Square was born. More like a biscuit than a brownie (or blondie!), the kids apparently no longer hate peanut butter, and hubby gets to have some too – ie. I don’t have to continually slap his hands away because he’s going in for a night-time raid on the goodies and depleting my lunchbox supplies!

So if you’re looking for a yummy treat that stays at home and isn’t available to take to school, try a Blondie Biscuit Square!

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Coconut or rapadura sugar
Vanilla powder
Milk
White spelt flour
Wholemeal spelt flour
Baking powder
Dark chocolate chips

Print

Blondie Biscuit Squares

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 22 minutes

Total Time 27 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup coconut or rapadura sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup white spelt flour
• 1/2 cup wholemeal spelt flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 squares Lindt dark chocolate chopped

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 175 degrees C
• Line an 8x8 inch baking tin with parchment paper and set aside
• In a large bowl mix peanut butter, sugar, vanilla and milk
• Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix together
• Using your hands mix flour through until well combined, the mix should be a thick, firm dough
• Press mixture into the lined tin.
• Press chopped Lindt chocolate into the top and place into the oven
• Bake for up to 22 minutes or until it starts to go slightly golden brown on the edges
• Leave to completely cool (otherwise will crumble when cutting) and cut into desired size
• These are quite filling so I suggest cutting them small