Fig rolls are classic English biscuits have a sweet crumbly pastry encasing a delicious lightly spiced fig filling.
Outrageously short crumbly pastry with a not too sweet figgy jam like filling Mmm, fig rolls. Yummy, and so very moreish!
It seems to me that fig roll are a little like marmite you love them or you hate them. And dare I say it they tend to appeal to those of a more mature age.
I know for one thing my taste buds have changed over the years and figs are one fruit that has only recently joined the long list of foods I like.
Let's get even more controversial, they may even be a dad thing! Paul Hollywood claimed on the Great British Bake Off they were his dad's favourite. They were certainly one of my dad favourites too.
Then again Pauls dad and my dad were both master bakers so maybe thats it. If you haven't tried them before take it from men who should know, they are pretty darn good!
This recipe is adapted recipe comes from British Baking, by Peyton & Byrne. I adapted it by keeping the pastry quite plain but it is beautifully light and crumbly and allowing the figs to do the talking. A little spice was used in the fig mixture which is retains a fresh fig jam like like flavour.
They are really easy to make, and taste divine. The pastry being very short and the filling full of flavour, perfect with a cup of tea but I challenge you stop at only one!
Anyway, there's no time to waste, let's get to it and bake!
Homemade Fig Rolls Step by step
📖 Recipe
Homemade Fig Rolls
Equipment
- 1 x large baking tray
- greaseproof paper
- stick blender or food processor
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 125 g (4oz) butter softened
- 25 g (1oz) caster sugar plus extra for sprinkling
- 25 g (1oz) light muscovado sugar
- 1 large egg separated
- 175 g (6oz) plain flour plus extra for rolling
- 5 tablespoon ground almonds
For the filling
- 175 g (6oz) semi-dried figs chopped stalks removed
- 125 ml (4floz) cold water
- zest of 1 lemon
- juice of half lemon
- 2 teaspoon golden caster sugar plus extra to sprinkle
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon mixed spice
Instructions
To Make the pastry
- Beat together 125g (4oz)butter and 25g (1oz) each caster sugar and light muscovado sugar. Add 1 egg yolk, reserving the egg white and beat again. Mix in 175g (6oz) plain flour and 5 tablespoon ground almonds and bring together to form a soft dough.
- Place onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 20 - 30 seconds. Shape into a ball. Wrap with cling film and chill for about 15 minutes.
To make the filling
- Place 175g (6oz) chopped figs ) into a heavy based sauce pan and add 125ml (4floz) water, the juice and zest of 1 lemon, 2 teaspoon caster sugar ¾tsp ground cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon mixed spice. Mix. Place on a low to medium heat to cook down, this will take about 15 - 20 minutes. Stir periodically to prevent the mixture from sticking until the mixture is thick mixture.
- Blend the fig mixture with either a stick blender or food processor. Allow to cool.
To assemble
- Preheat the oven to180℃ (160℃ fan)/350°F/gas mark 4.
- Remove the pastry from the fridge. Roll out between two sheets of baking parchment and trim to a 26 x 40cm (10 x 16in)rectangle.
- Cut in half lengthways and spoon half of the fig mixture down the length of each strip of pastry. Carefully wrap the pastry around the fig filling pressing gently together to seal. Use the greaseproof paper to help you roll the pastry.
- Transfer to a baking tray. and flatten each roll slightly with a fork.
- Lightly beat the egg white and brush over the pastry rolls. Sprinkle with a little caster sugar.
- Place in the pre-heated oven. Bake for 25 minutes, turning the tray after about 15 minutes.
- Remove the tray from the oven. Allow the fig rolls to cool for about 10 minutes before carefully transferring to a chopping board. With a sharp knife, remove a thin slither from each end of the large fig rolls to tidy. Slice into fig rolls measuring about 3cm (1½ in) long. Carefully place onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Freeze for up to 2 months
- Store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 1 week.
Elizabeth Palmieri says
Chose your fig roll recipe as you had written OUNCES as well as grammes. Thankyou for that as I can’t be bothered converting grammes to ounces and tend to bypass recipes which are only in grammes!! Your recipe is FAB!! I love bought fig biscuits but these are in a different class!! So easy to make and absolutely scrumptious!! I’m so glad I found your recipe thanks!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Im pleased you liked them - the are very moorish thats for sure. I have lots of readers that prefer to work in ounces so I am happy to inlude them being f an age i have been working in both for so long Iteasy for me to add them and so long as you only work in one set of measurements or the other I find the convertions I use works wells
StewartThorp says
I've just made these using this years figs from our tree and they were delicious! I was a little concerned that they might be too wet and so dehydrated them in slices for about 6 hours. I had no idea about what quantity I needed but used 350g. and no water. This worked well and still needed boiling for a little while to get rid of the excess liquid. I found the pastry a little wet and difficult to move from the baking paper. In the end I just pulled one side of the paper so that I could roll the pastry over the filling and onto the other side of the pastry. I then did this with the opposite side and gently separated the two rolls. There was no way that I was going to be able to move the roll off the paper so I just lifted the whole thing onto a baking tray. This worked fine.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
How amazing using figs from your own tree so glad this was a success. The pastry is a soft dough hense the need for the baking paper, however if they were too wet it could be down to using a slightly larger egg or I am finding with the humid weather my four contains more moisture absorbed from the air and therefore I sometimes need to use a little less liquid.
Beth says
These are insanely good. After eating many cheap packets of fig rolls last winter, I thought I’d bake some and WOW these are amazing. The only adaption I did was to do 50/50 butter and lard to combine it with my grandmothers pastry recipe. It worked perfectly.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
"insanely good" High praise indeed and really made me smile thank you.
Shirley Lucass says
Only tasted one so far but very nice.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
What restraint you have 😉
Helen says
Do the figs have to be semi dried or can you use fresh figs
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Semi-dried I have not tried making them with fresh figs I would imagine they might make the filling too wet.
Anna Mulqueen says
I will never be able to eat shop-bought Fig Rolls again! The pastry was divine. The detailed instructions made it very easy to follow. Sadly(for me) none of the Fig Rolls made it into a tin or the freezer. Everyone loved them
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Thank you for your comment you made me giggle. So happy that everyone liked them. Sounds like you ar ejust going to have to make them again 😂
David says
Tried these in a 5 star hotel in Malta so decided to bake them at home. My wife has been reminding me for weeks so today I baked. What can I say the ones in the hotel were tasty but this recipe is another level absolutely delicious. Many thanks from Düsseldorf.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Ahh thank you I love getting comments like this. So happy you enjoyed them and hope you find more recipes on Crumbs to enjoy.
Linda Jones says
It is so important to get quantities and measurements correct in a recipe and how so many people have apparently made this recipe without a problem beats me. Do I roll the pastry out to 26x40 cm or 10x8"? There's a BIG difference here.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Oh dear yes something did go astray in converting metric to imperial measurement which I add for the few of my readers who have not yet converted. It would seem I put the imperial size for the pastry after cutting into two rectangles. Luckily those who were making it and love the recipe must have used the correct metric measurement. Thank you for pointing out my error I have now corrected it in the recipe.
Sue says
Should I remove the skin from the figs as I am using fresh ones?
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Ive not made them with fresh figs but no I would not skin the figs first. Be aware that fresh figs will have more moisture so you will not need as much water to make the mixture. You will also need a larger weight of figs. Do let me know how they work out.
Jenny says
Just made these for my mother-in-law who loves anything with figs. As others stated before, this is really good!
May I ask what happens with the last 5 grams of figs? You say in the ingredients list to use 180 grams of figs, but only mention 175 grams in the instructios.
I used "Lebkuchen" spice, which is sold here in Germany. I thought this was perfect for this time of the year.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Hi Jenny So pleased to hear you like them Im sorry about the 5 grams of figs that's a mistake I shall put right now. I now put measurements in both the ingredient list and method as it makes it easier for those working from a mobile as it saves scrolling up and down but they should have been the same. the 5g is neither here nor there but I should have been consistent I must have been slightly distracted. Lebkuchen spice is a good choice for this time of year.
JM says
Made these and they were so good. The crumbly pastry was short and went so beautifully with the sticky sweet fig filling. Substituted the almonds with chopped pecans, and used fig jam mixed with semi-dried figs and dates. Thanks for the recipe! We ran out of fig rolls at the supermarket. We live in a part of the world where fig rolls are not commong. This recipe is a keeper. 🙂
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Pleased you liked them. I totally agree I love the crumbly pastry combined with the sticky filling complimenting each other in both taste and texture.
John Sanderson says
Can you suggest an alternative to ground almonds?
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I've not tested it with ground rice but I often add that to shortbread to give a light crumbly texture so I think you could use that instead. Or You can use just flour instead just add 5 tbsp of flour to replace the nuts. They wont be quite so light and crumbly but will still taste fab. If you tried ground rice I would love to know how you got on. I think I would be tempted to try with just 4 tbsp rather than 5 as the rice has a courser texture than almonds and I wouldnt want them to be gritty,
Imogen says
Just tried these - absolutely delicious! The pastry is rich with a lovely crumbly texture. I'm certainly not an expert baker but found the recipe easy to follow. Will definitely be making again - so much nicer than bought fig rolls. Thanks for the fab recipe ?.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I agree much nicer that bought fig rolls, glad you enjoyed them
Sonia Coombes says
Love these fig rolls. I make these twice a month. Ive add one stem ginger to the filling
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
So happy to hear this twice a month you must be a fan. I love the idea of the added stem ginger I shall try that myself.
Karen Caudwell says
We have a glut of figs on our tree this year so substituted the dried figs for fresh ones. I used twice the weight of fresh figs to that stated in the recipe, and added no water. I did, however, use the juice of a whole lemon instead of a half. Just simmered it all down to a nice, thick jammy consistency, and whizzed it up with a stick blender. The results were delicious, and the first batch disappeared in minutes! Thanks for the recipe, it’s a keeper!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Oh wow How lovely to make it from your own figs. so pleased they worked as well as using fried figs.