I made this along with a bunch of other dishes for a party, and this was, by far, the standout of the evening! The only adjustment I made to the recipe was simmering the figs, brown sugar, & vanilla in much more water than the two Tbsp. for about twenty minutes until it turned syrupy. Then I refrigerated this overnight before using on the cheese the next day, letting the figs really absorb the syrup and soften. Heavenly!
I have made this several times now and it is just wonderful. As a timesaver, I purchased fig jam from Williams-Sonoma and put this on top of the brie (rind removed throughout). Also, try it with pecans.
We thought this was delicious. It was a great dinner - green salad this and French bread. Mmmm. A few thoughts - if your figs are very ripe you don't need 10 minutes to soften them. Whole toasted almonds are divine in this. And if you peel the rind off your cheese it becomes a gooey dip. Next time we'll leave the rind on so it stays a bit more in its' original form.
I decided to try this recipe and it was absolutely wonderful. Everyone loved it!! I cut each fig into 8 pieces and cut the almonds into halves. The cheese was done in less than 10 minutes. Next time I'll add more figs and make more syrup. It was really yummy!!
Delicious and a hit at the party. I could not get fresh figs used 1/2 pkg of dried about 8-12 increased the water to 4T and the vanilla to 1t. Cooked the figs longer to soften. Next time I'll try soaking the figs overnight.
This is an excellent recipe! I used a 20 oz. baby brie. I also cut the figs into eigths. I kept the almonds whole but toasted them in the oven for about 15 minutes. Finally instead of water crackers I served the cheese with french bread. The result was visually gorgeous and tasted wonderful. Thank you for the recipe!
These were great after initially not liking this. But I stuck with it and reread some of the reviews to see what I needed to do to make it better. 1) Don't eat it with heavy crackers like Wasa- it messes up the flavor combination. We used Honey Butter Ritz and that was much better. 2) Next time I'll chop up the figs because they hold together too much in just quarters and it's hard to spread on a cracker without getting a huge glob of fig. 3) Be sure to cook the figs sugar water vanilla combo long enough to get it think and goopy. It needs to blend well with each other. Very exotic tasting and fancy! We had it with Salmon and Wild Rice and it was a fabulous meal!
OH MY GOD!!! This recipe is absolutly wonderful. I followed the other reviewer advise and add more figs. Its sounds and looks SOOOO Gourmet but is so simple. It was a hit at my party. Everyone wanted the recipe! Thank you Casandra I'm happy to give you my first review.:)
I only used half a wheel of cheese (camembert... because that what I had) but I made the full amount of syrup upping the water to about 4 tbp. I made it a couple of hours ahead & let it sit covered on the stove until hubby came home. The almonds (I used slivered) got kinda soft & carmelized...I loved them! And the figs imparted such great flavor to teh simple syrup....be sure & make extra syrup! I served it w/ barely buttered toasted french bread. Fabulous easy recipe....thanks for sharing Casandra!
This recipe sounded so good but was entirely too sweet! My guests would not eat it - several of them. I was disappointed as I was really looking forward to a great recipe using fresh figs.
