All about Fig Pies

It’s fig pie season. Summer fruits invite a plentitude of fruit pies. Fresh fig season is short, but dried fig season lasts all year long. Where to start and what kind of pie to bake? Find baking tips and a fig pie recipe below primed for your next dessert. 

Baking Pie with Figs: Start Here

Sun-Maid and Orchard Choice Mission Figs and Golden Figs are grown on the branches to harvest perfection because there’s nothing like ripe figs that are dried. It’s why their flavor is so rich!  Select Mission Figs for that familiar fruit flavor associated as the filling in chewy cakey sandwich cookie fig bars. Golden Figs offer a more delicate lighter flavor and sweetness. Both types of dried figs  are perfect in pie. Let the other ingredients and flavors guide you to decide which kind of dried figs to use for fig pies. 

Pie Crust

Most of the time, when we think pie, it’s easy to envision pie dough made with butter crust that first gets par-baked, filled and then finishes baking. When making a butter pie crust, it’s preferable to use unsalted butter so you can control the level of salinity.  The dough is worked just to the point of bringing the ingredients together and then chills. This kind of fig pie recipe would work best with fresh figs, though you’ll find it used below for custard fillings and fudgy fig fillings too. Graham cracker pie crust that’s pressed into the pan works best for cheesecakes and puddings. Sometimes, though, and more of a nudge in the direction of tarts (pies’ sibling) pate sucree or shortbread crust is used. Find the fig pie recipe that works with the kind of crust you prefer.

Mixed Fruit Pies

Here’s an idea for two kinds of texture: use fresh, ripe stone fruit with chewy dried figs. Figs play well with peach, plum, and nectarine. Other kinds of fruit that pair well with figs include strawberries, blueberries, apples, and more. Peach fig pie bars with streusel are a summer treat.

Pie with Fig Jam + Fig Preserves

One way to use dried figs as a pie filling is to cook them down until they are soft and jammy. This step includes so many possiblities: the type of liquid you use to rehydrate them, the spices or aromatics used in the mix all contribute to their flavor. Then, puree the figs  to a luscious fig paste, or keep some of them intact if you prefer fig preserves, pureeing half the amount. Get started making fig jam here. Find flavor combinations that pair well with figs below.

Fig Jam Flavor Guide

• Figs + Star Anise
• Figs + Coffee
• Figs + Tea (Masala Chai / Breakfast Tea / Earl Grey Tea)
• Figs + Vanilla Extract
• Figs + Honey (Lemon / Oranges)
• Figs + Liqueur (Bourbon / Cognac / Brandy / Rum / Tequila)
• Figs + Wine (Red Wine / Port Wine)

Nuts in Fig Pie

Nuts go notoriously well with figs, specifically walnuts, almonds, pistachios, and pecans. Go with more of a rustic approach and opt for a galette, tiling on slices of dried figs baked over almond frangipane. Or, veer closer into the realm of a fruitcake baked into a pie plate studded with walnuts. Or, mix it up and include mixed nuts in the pie shell. 

Chocolate Fig Pies

Chocolate and figs are a decadent duo. Rich bittersweet chocolate or dark chocolate tastes exceptionally good with mission figs. You can always bake brownie batter in a pie shell for brownie pie, in which case we’d advise pressing halved figs into the top as a garnish before it bakes, or stirring them into the batter for a chewy note in each bite. Or, a different approach would be to add cocoa powder to fig puree in pocket pies or mini tarts. Still, a different direction would be making a chocolate crust and then making fig compote to top the pie or tart. 

Holiday Pies: Pecan Pie + Others

Bring a taste of the orchard to your holiday dessert table. Mix in chopped dried figs in pecan pie. Typically the filling includes corn syrup to give it that thick gelled consistency, but sometimes you’ll find options in recipes that swap in maple syrup or a portion of maple with corn syrup. For sweet potato pie, garnish the top with dried figs and nuts for a chewy and crunchy texture.