OVEN-ROASTED FIGS WITH RASPBERRIES

Better Homes & Gardens printed this recipe in their Summertime 2008 magazine, under the heading "Good and Healthy." I was intrigued. I love dried figs, but had never tasted a fresh one. Our local Harris Teeter had fresh figs. OK, I'm in. I bought 2 figs to experiment. (Sorry about the photos; I just can't get closeups with my camera, hard as I try.) This is a great recipe. The flavors of orange and honey with the thyme are unbelievable. I didn't have creme fraiche, so I subbed lite sour cream mixed with lite cream cheese, added a little honey, and it was perfect! If you want more fruit in your diet, here's your chance.

Oven-Roasted Figs with Raspberries
Rating: 9 out of 10
INGREDIENTS:
12 medium-size ripe but firm figs
1 orange + zest (zest is my addition)
1/4 cup honey
2-1/2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. snipped fresh thyme
2 Tbsp. butter, cut in very small pieces
1-1/2 cups fresh raspberries
Creme fraiche, (or plain sour cream, or sour cream mixed with cream cheese and sweetened with a little honey)

Preheat oven to 450F. Spray a large shallow baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Cut figs in half and place them in the dish, cut side up, in a single layer Squeeze the juice of 1 orange over figs. In a small cup, whisk or mix the zest, honey, sugar and thyme. Drizzle over figs. Dot the top of each fig with butter.

Bake for 8 minutes; baste the figs with any accumulated pan juice. Place pan back in oven and bake additional 5 minutes, till figs just start to caramelize. Add the raspberries to the pan and bake an additional 2-3 minutes, just to heat the raspberries through. Serve warm with creme fraiche. Serves 6 (These are also good cold.)

Ea. serving: 247 calories, 10 g fat (6 g sat. fat), 30 mg chol, 34 mg sodium, 42 g carbo, 5 g fiber, 1 g pro. Daily Values: 14% vit.A, 37% vit.C, 5% calcium, 4% iron