Spiced figs & Mascarpone recipe

I have always loved a certain mini dessert in Pizza Express ever since I first tasted it.

Caffè Reale

Baby figs, cinnamon & white wine spiced syrup, mascarpone

According to their nutritional information it has only 218 calories - the portion is tiny and served with a  coffee and perfect after a big dinner.  I love it so much though I wanted to try a bigger version as a full dessert.

When I saw some beautiful looking figs (have never seen the mini ones though) in Whole Foods Market recently, I decided that I wanted to try to make it myself.  I had no idea of the recipe but thought it possibly contained a mix of honey, cinnamon and nutmeg.  When sniffing the spices in my cupboard to try to decide which to use I actually decided on mixed spice as I thought that smelled the closest and was less risky than my own concoction.  I didn't check the recipe description or I would have tried adding a little white wine as well but will definitely try that next time.

So in the end I made it with 4 simple ingredients and it took all of 5 minutes!  I was delighted with the result and although it probably didn't taste exactly the same, it was close enough for me, it was so delicious I've already made it again.  I even managed to convince Roz, who hates honey and was unsure of figs to try it and she cleaned her bowl!

Here's the recipe - measurements are approximate as I actually just guessed and sprinkled/squirted them into the pan!

Ingredients:

4 figs (cut into 8ths)
2 tsp ground mixed spice
1-2 tbsp honey
large dollop of mascarpone to serve (not so healthy but I LOOOOVE it!)

[optional addition of white wine but I haven't tried this yet!]

Method:

Add the chopped figs to a non-stick pan.  Sprinkle over the spice mix, squirt over the honey and heat over a medium heat.

The juices from the figs will ooze and make the sauce runny - keep heating until they bubble and start to get thicker and stickier, approx 3-5 mins.  Spoon into bowls and reserve some of the sauce.  Add a generous dollop of mascarpone and drizzle over the remaining sauce.

I think the nice thing about using chopped up large figs is that the juices and seeds leak into the sauce giving it more flavour as opposed to the solid mini figs in the pizza express version.

After writing this, I'm off to make it again, with wine this time!  :)