Brûléed Fig Brownies

Rich, fudgy brownies with swirls of fig jam and slices of brûléed black mission figs.

Hi everyone! After a several month long taxing and perilous search for figs of any kind, I finally found some beautiful black missions at my local grocery store! A recipe of some sort for fig brownies has been tormenting my thoughts since March. At long last, I have brought this idea to fruition.

Figs and dark chocolate are a synergistic romance I find criminally under-documented. Selecting figs in the honey or berry flavor categories makes this relationship especially successful. Black missions, as I’ve used here, are a somewhat default fig, making them a very solid option for this recipe. If your could get your hands on some, kadota figs would be my first choice.

The base of this recipe is a delicious, dark, fudgy brownie. While there is minimal flour in this recipe, I use a mixture of all-purpose and buckwheat to create depth and balance the deep chocolate notes. If you do not have buckwheat flour, all-purpose will work fine. I have not tested, but I’m sure you could make these brownies entirely gluten-free by using only buckwheat flour and upping the cooking time slightly.

Figs are incorporated in two ways in this recipe. Firstly, fig jam (any fig jam you are partial to!) is swirled into the batter. Secondly, slices of fresh fig are placed on top. After baking, each fig slice is sprinkled with granulated sugar and torched, brûléeing the sugar, creating a thin sugar crust over the sweetened, caramelized flesh.

These brownies are rich, sweet, and dense, and full of the delicious flavors of one of nature’s best seasonal fruits. I’ve chosen to bake these in a round pan mainly for aesthetic purposes, but an 8x8 square brownie pan is perfect if that is your preference. As always, I’d love to hear from you with any questions, suggestions, or concerns. Happy baking!

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