0 Fig Walnut Loaf (SHF35)

When Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice announced "The Beautiful Fig" as the theme for this month's Sugar High Friday, I really wanted to participate in this month's SHF and support my fellow Daring Baker Ivonne. Sugar High Friday, the brainchild of Domestic Goddess Jennifer, is the food blogosphere's travelling sweet tooth event. Every month a new host picks a theme ingredient and anyone can create something sweet incorporating the theme.

Fresh black mission figs seem to say "autumn" to me and are readily available this time of year. It almost seemed like a shame to bake the wonderfully sweet fresh figs, so I made sure to buy extra figs for snacking too! When combined with walnuts, this fig loaf turned out to be a perfect autumnal treat.



Fig Walnut Loaf
(makes one 8x4-inch loaf OR three 3x5-inch mini loaves)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
6 ounces unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temp.
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup chopped fresh figs
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325F. Butter and flour one 8x4 inch loaf pan (or three 3x5 inch mini loaf pans). Sift together flour and baking powder. Set aside.

Stir butter and both sugars until combined. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Mix in figs and walnuts.

Pour batter into the 8x4 inch loaf pan (or divide batter evenly among the three mini loaf pans). Bake at 325F until cake tester comes out clean (a few dry crumbs are okay but it shouldn't be wet), approximately 75 minutes for the 8x4 inch loaf (or 30-40 minutes for the three mini loaves). Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes before slicing.