Fig Swirls

Total Time: 4 hrs 15 mins Preparation Time: 4 hrs Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup packed soft dried mission figs, hard tips discarded (8 oz)
• 3/4 cup mild honey
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 2 teaspoons grated fresh orange zest
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Recipe

• 1 make pastry dough: whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
• 2 pulse butter, cream cheese, yolk, and vanilla in a food processor until smooth, then add flour mixture and pulse until dough just forms a ball.
• 3 halve dough and form each half into a roughly 6- by 2-inch rectangle. chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, about 1 1/2 hours.
• 4 make filling: purée figs, honey, juice, zest, and cinnamon in cleaned food processor until almost smooth.
• 5 make logs: roll out 1 piece of dough between 2 sheets of wax paper into a 10- by 8-inch rectangle (about 1/3 inch thick), long side facing you. remove top sheet of wax paper and gently spread one fourth of fig mixture over bottom half of dough, leaving a 1/4-inch border. using wax paper as an aid, roll dough, jelly-roll style, halfway, enclosing fig mixture. flip dough, with wax paper. remove paper. spread with one third of remaining fig mixture and roll in same manner, to form an s-shaped log. make another log. chill logs, wrapped in wax paper, until firm, at least 4 hours.
• 6 bake cookies: put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°f.
• 7 cut logs crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices and arrange slices about 2 inches apart on lightly buttered baking sheets. bake until pastry is pale golden, 12 to 15 minutes. transfer to racks to cool.
• 8 unbaked logs can be chilled up to 3 days.
• 9 keep cookies layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.