Buttermilk Fig Muffins

These muffins are chewy and crunchy and delicious. They are my slight variation of the adaptation of this recipe by my dear friend Eliza Earle from an original by Mary Ruth Scott -- as so many recipes go from one family to another. They make a perfect breakfast or afternoon snack.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried Calamyra figs, cut in quarters
• 1/2 cup Port wine
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1 cup loosely packed dark brown sugar
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 1 egg
• 1 cup fresh buttermilk
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dark raisins
• vegetable cooking spray

Oven Temp: 350° bake in lower middle of oven, 30 minutes Yield: 12 medium muffins,

Several hours before baking these muffins, put the dried figs, Port, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small microwave-proof covered bowl. Mix well, and leave at room temperature.

Just before mixing the muffins, microwave the fig mixture for 2 minutes at full power. Put the fig mixture and the pecans in a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse several times until the figs and pecans are roughly chopped but not paste.

Preheat the oven. Spray the muffin tin with vegetable spray, and set aside.

These can be mixed either by hand or mixer. In a large bowl, mix sugar, oil, and egg. In a measuring cup, mix buttermilk, salt, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the sugar mixture.

Sift the remaining cinnamon and flour together into the batter, and mix just until smooth. Fold fig mixture and raisins into the batter. Spoon into the prepared muffin tin. The batter will fill each of the muffin depressions.

Bake until muffin tops spring back when touched, about 30 minutes.Allow to cool 5 minutes, invert onto a cooling rack, and reverse so that muffins are right-side-up on the rack.