Biscuit week was upon us and, with it, another Technical Challenge recipe for me to veganise! This week I was chuffed to try my hand at homemade fig rolls (a firm favourite in my household, especially with Jay). Although I'm no stranger to vegan fig rolls, as many of the (super affordable) shop bought versions are accidentally vegan, I'd never come close to a proper homemade fig roll - vegan or otherwise. So, naturally, I was both excited to try my hand at the recipe and nervous to find out whether my rolls would live up to store-bought standard. Luckily, the sweet and lightly spiced rolls went down a treat! Eaten warm, fresh from the oven, the homemade rolls were definitely a different experience to the shop bought version and, reminiscent of a mince pie, even felt a little festive. Oh, and they were perfect with a cuppa.
As always, you can also bake alongside me by heading over to YouTube to watch me take on this vegan fig roll recipe!
You Will Need:
For the biscuit dough:
- 175g plain flour
- pinch of fine salt
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 50g vegan butter
- 40g light muscovado sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
For the filling:
- 200g soft dried figs, roughly chopped
- 25g light muscovado sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger
Start by preheating your oven to 190 degrees celsius then, in a bowl, combine the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder together.
Adding the butter to the mixture, rub into the flour until the mix resembles breadcrumbs.
Add your vanilla extract and then, a little at a time, add your almond milk to the mixture and, combining with your hands, until you're left with a smooth ball of dough. Then transfer the dough to a small plate and place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
As the dough chills, add your figs and remaining sugar to a pan and cover with water before placing on the hob to simmer for 5-10 minutes. You'll know they're done when the mixture has reduced and thickened to a jammy texture.
Transfer the fig mixture to your food processor, add your cinnamon and ginger then process to a smooth paste.
Once blended, transfer to a bowl and place the fig mixture into the fridge to chill for around 10 minutes.
When the dough has chilled, roll out into a large rectangle and then slice the rectangle length-ways into two, leaving you with two equal slim rectangles.
Split your chilled fig mixture into two and, down the centre of each piece of dough, create a 'sausage' of fig filling. To smooth the mixture, simply dip your finger tips in water and mould the filling with your hands.
Once filled, roll your dough to fully encase the filling and then slice each of the two long rolls into six pieces, leaving you with twelve fig rolls.
Transfer the rolls onto a lined baking tray and place in the oven to bake for around 15 minutes, or until lightly golden.
Once baked, you'll just need to pop the kettle on and you're ready to tuck in!