Fig-Walnut Bread

When my parents got some beautiful dried figs from my aunt and uncle for their anniversary, I went searching through my blog links for the perfect recipe to make. Luckily, there was a whole SHF event on the topic of figs, and alpineberry had the perfect recipe: Fig Walnut Loaf. I made a few changes--notably, replacing fresh figs with dry and replacing half the butter with vegetable oil because my mom was freaking out about the amount of butter we've consumed lately! I think the oil substitution made the bread a little crispier than it would have been otherwise, which was nice, but also a little dry (probably also due to dried figs instead of fresh). However, it was perfect with my mom's homemade raspberry-peach jam on top. Yum!

Fig-Walnut Bread (adapted from alpineberry's Fig Walnut Loaf)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/4 cup vegetable oil + 1/8 c oil (fill 1/4 cup halfway full)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup chopped dried figs
2/3 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour a loaf pan.
2. Whisk together flour and baking powder in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together butter and sugars. Mix in oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add flour and mix until just incorporated. Stir in figs and nuts.
3. Pour into loaf pan and bake until a tester comes out clean, about 75 minutes. Cool in pan 5-10 minutes before slicing. Although it is delicious warm, the loaf is definitely much easier to cut once completely cool.