Queijo de Figo (Fig cheese)

Ingredients

• 250 grs of dried and roasted figs
• 250 grs of roasted almonds
• 250 grs of caster sugar
• 25 grs of powdered chocolate
• 5 grs of cinnamon
• 1,5 grs of aniseed
• 1,5 dl of water
• Zest from half a lemon
• Icing sugar (optional)
• Roasted almonds for decoration (optional)

Directions

1. Grind the figs until you get them to small pieces, almost like a paste. Place this in a bowl. Next grind the almonds to a course powder and place it in a separate bowl;
2. Put the water, caster sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest, aniseed and powdered chocolate in a pan;
3. Cook it until you reach ?road stage?(*);
4. Add the almonds, always stirring and letting it boil for 5 minutes;
5. Next, add the figs, keep stirring and let it boil for another 5 minutes;
6. Prepare a cold surface, like a wood, metal or stone tray, by sprinkling it with icing sugar or caster sugar. Pour out the contents of the pan to this surface;
7. Let it cool for a bit and you can then mould it into small portions or one large cheese. You can then place some roasted almonds along the top of the cheese and decorate it to your taste.

Enjoy it!

(*) I don?t know the correct translation for this term, so I?ll try to explain it: road stage is when you get to a point that if you pass a spoon by the bottom of the pan the mixture splits and doesn?t come back together, thus forming a road.

Submitted 11/6/07.
Source:
Submitted By: J W

Queijo de Figo (Fig cheese)