FIGS AND A WITCH SWAP

This week has turned out to be a week for cooking and baking. My neighbor gave us some figs she had picked off of her fig tree. I'm not really a big fan of figs. I've only eaten figs in a Fig Newton Cookie and that was when someone else bought them and they offered one to me. If I had to choose between buying a chocolate chip cookie or a Fig Newton, well I guess you know the answer anything with chocolate is a winner all the time. In fact I think any other cookie would beat a Fig Newton. So, here I am with this huge bowl of fresh figs and I just don't know what to do with them. My son and DH liked the fresh figs and they ate a few, however, I still have this huge bowl of figs and I know they will not be able to eat all of them before they start going bad. In fact a few of the figs had already started to ripen and were popping open. I asked my neighbor what she does with all the figs she picks and she said that she makes them into fig preserves and she gave me her recipe. Well here is another dilemma, I have never made preserves and canned before. So this week has been a learning experience and a new appreciation for figs. My fig preserves turned out great and I love the taste. My DH now wants to plant a fig tree so that we can pick our own. If thats the case it will be quite a while before I can make preserves with our own figs. (hee hee)
I decided to bake some sweet rolls and use the fig preserves. Below is the recipe for the Fig Preserves and Sweet Rolls.
STRAWBERRY FIG PRESERVES:
3 cups mashed figs ( I found it easier to cut the figs in half and scoop out the pulp with a spoon, then mash the figs)
3 cups sugar
1 pkg. (6 oz.) strawberry flavored gelatin

Mix dry ingredients. Pour over figs and stir well. Cook 20 minutes or until thick. Pour into jars and seal.

SWEET ROLLS:
3 1/2 TO 4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 pkg. active dry yeast
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs

TOPPING:
1/2 cup fig preserves
1/2 cup melted butter

GLAZE:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons milk

Grease 2 cookie sheets. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup and level off. In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast; blend well. In small saucepan, heat 1 cup milk and 1/2 cup butter until very warm. Add warm liquid and eggs to flour mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened; beat 3 minutes at medium speed. Stir in an additional 2 cups flour until dough pulls cleanly away from sides of bowl.
On floured surface, knead in 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl; cover loosley with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 60 minutes.
Punch down dough several times to remove all air bubbles. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; divide into 24 pieces. Roll each piece into 15-inch rope. On prepared cookie sheet, loosely coil each rope into a circle, sealing end underneath. Cover; let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 20 minutes.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Carefully brush rolls with melted butter. Make deep thumbprint in center of each roll; fill with 1 teaspoon preserves. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan immediately; brush a second time with melted butter. Cool. Combine powdered sugar and milk; drizzle over cooled rolls. Makes 24 rolls.


ANOTHER GREAT SWAP

Genevieve of Bella Enchanted is hosting another great swap, "Wicked Witch Switch Swap" http://wickedwitchswitch.blogspot.com/ . Deadline to enter is September 1st.