Five years ago, I would never have set into the kitchen with at least four of the ingredients listed in the title of this post.  I ate what I ate, most of it from a box or takeout.  Very little experimentation, very little imagination, zero confidence in my cooking abilities.

And yet, here we are.  Honey Lavender Popovers with a Vanilla Fig Sauce.

I’m not a huge fan of honey for some reason, but it’s starting to grow on me.  Only as a sweetener, though – I still don’t want to actually TASTE it.  And figs?  Well, I’d had dried figs before last year, just never fresh ones.  Lucky for me, Brandi has a couple of fig trees, and her last crop was delicious and she SHARED.  In fact, she shared enough of them that I made Fig Sorbet…and was it ever delicious.

This year, though, thanks to a strange summer season and an early hailstorm that destroyed lots of plants and blossoms, her fig crop is delayed.  Bummer.  But you know what?  Things have a way of working themselves out.

FromTheFarm hooked me up with two varieties of perfectly ripe, perfectly gorgeous fresh figs.

The pressure…the overwhelming pressure to put them to good use.  I could not afford to fail – they were too beautiful and subtly sweet.  I refused to let them go to waste.

So…it was popover day.  I didn’t want to just cook them IN to a popover – I wanted the flavor to really shine through.  You may know (at one point I did not, so perhaps some of you have never eaten a ripe fig) that figs aren’t terribly flavorful.  Sweet, yes, but subdued and very…I don’t know…sophisticated?  Well, that’s what I am going with.

Sophisticated.

And Honey Lavender Popovers are also quite sophisticated.  Beautiful popovers as well – mine turned out fabulously puffed and deep golden brown.  Was it the honey instead of sugar?  Maybe.  Even after 30 popover recipes in my repetoire, I am still learning the nuances of the popover and what differences in the recipes cause what baking outcomes.

Let’s just say, I will be using honey in a future batch.  The sweetness was rich and the smell? Divine.

Also divine?  The figs.  A quick sauce using simple syrup and vanilla complimented these popovers in a wonderful way.  Not my typical full-on sugary breakfast, which was a nice change.  I can see these being the popovers a Bed & Breakfast would make on a lazy Saturday morning, before the weekend guests mosey on out to the lake for a day of fishing or soaking in the sun.

Or, for fat girls like me to eat at 3 in the afternoon because they’re too lazy to get out of bed in time to make them for breakfast, and too pathetic to drive four blocks to the grocery store to buy a Snickers when they’re craving something sweet.

Not that I have anyone in particular in mind.  That was hypothetical, of course.

Of course.

So, now you want to make these, don’t you?  But let me guess…you, too, have no access to fresh figs.

Wrong.

FromTheFarm can help!  For about another week or two, they’ll have the freshest of fresh figs.  You won’t even have to sneak down to Brandi’s house while she’s at work to steal from her fig trees. (You won’t HAVE to, but, you could.  I mean, if you had time and were bored, or greedy, you know.)

No, I am not telling you where she lives.

But, I will tell you that you can order these figs at FromTheFarm. Go on! You know you want to!  How else are they just going to show up on your front porch?

Maybe you could WIN some.  Right here!

Just let me know you want to win…that will gain you one entry.  But you REALLY want to win this.  So, do one or more of the following, then come back here and leave me a separate comment for each one you did.  You won’t be sorry!

• Follow FromTheFarm on Twitter
• Become a Fan of FromTheFarm on Facebook
• Pin a photo from this post
• Stumble this post

There you have it, 5 chances to win!  Contest is open until 11:59pm EST on August 28.  Open to US residents only, ages 18 and older.  Winner will be notified via email.  Prize shipped by and courtesy of FromTheFarm. Disclaimer: I was sent figs, but not compensated for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Good luck!!

Tagged as: breakfast, figs, popovers