feeling figgy and a bit buttery

~We have had the incredible fortune of swimming in figs for about 2 or 3weeks this summer.... and how lovely they are!! Kg's mum has 2 beautiful trees just steps from her kitchen door. Part of our heat coping stradegy this summer has been late day swims at Ma Mi's and drying off a bit while picking the figs . Burger has keen eyesight(much more so than me) and took great pride in spotting the ready to pick delectables. I love them freshly plucked and can eat 'em by the pound but there are sooo many lovely things to make with them as well. Ma Mi makes fig preserves ( amazing biscuit /ice cream topper...i might could beg the recipe from her to share with you ins). I used all of our harvest making scones.....this recipe is BY FAR my favorite scone recipe right now and I will definitely be making variations with other fruit. The biscuit had the perfect tenderness. it is a drop scone which really helps with the under working of the dough.I substituted agave nectar for the maple syrup out of need...it was perfect all 3-4 times I made them.
I also discovered the art of making butter when I made these. I did not have butter milk so (!!!???!!!)I cruised the inter web for a solution. I had no idea that with heavy cream you could literally whip up your own butter and butter milk. This seems silly to me now considering how often I whip up cream 'round here..but i never over whip! It is super easy and quite satisfying and the butter is quite amazing, especially on fresh baked figgy scones.

It is so easy I am gonna tell you how to do it right now...


making butter(and buttermilk)

ingredients and tools 1 cup of heavy cream kosher salt(totally optional) pint jar with tight lid 20-35 min a strong arm patience

1. fill your clean jar half way with heavy cream. and start to shake and then shake it a whole lot more. It will turn into whip cream first.

2.Then slowly it will begin to separate. keep shaking till there is a clump.

3. pour off the liquid from the fat . that is your fresh buttermilk.

4.clean your butter ball. In the original instructions(which I cannot locate at the moment) I read it said to need the butter in a little cold h2o to clean. IN this lovely book (I have since brought home from the library ) it says to put some h2o in the jar and shake then pour off the h2o; repeating 3 or 4 times until the h2o is clear. I have not tried that method yet but sounds way better than the kneading method.

5.mold your butter. I made a log once twisted in wax paper and then also just put it in a ramekin .Honestly we ate it so quickly it did not matter. Just make sure you cover it so it does not absorb any odors from the fridge.