Fig and Honey Muffins

Ingredients:

• 150g dried figs
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup honey, warmed
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup canola or other oil
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup plain yoghurt
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped almonds
• 1 cup self raising flour
• 3/4 cup wholemeal flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (bicarb soda)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Method:

1. Heat oven to 200 deg. C. with the rack just below the middle
2. Put the figs in a microwave-proof jug, pour in the water, cover and heat on High for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool without draining. When cool enough to handle cut off and discard stem, and chop finely. Put them in a one cup measure and add enough cooking liquid to fill the cup, then stir. (Might be easier to de stem and chop figs first - I found chopping them after gooey and messy, and there was insufficient cooking water to make up the cupful - i.e. no cooking fluid was discarded, hence not a problem if the figs disintegrate into the water when cooking.)
3. Measure the honey, egg, oil, cinnamon, salt, yoghurt into a large bowl, and beat with a fork until thoroughly mixed. (I used the mixmaster K beater.)
4. Add the figs and mix in.
5. Measure the flours, baking soda and chopped almonds into a second bowl or container, and stir or whisk to mix. Sprinkle this dry mix over the liquids in the large bowl, then fold until no streaks of flour are visible. (I used the K beater to mix them on slow for a minimal amount of time.)
6. Spoon mixture into 12 regular muffins pans which have been well greased.
7. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until centres spring back when lightly pressed. (My oven is slow so they were cooked for about 18 minutes on 200 deg. with top and bottom elements on, before they looked nice and brown and a wooden skewer cam out reasonably clean).
8. Leave in the pan for 2 to 3 minutes while you mix the lemon juice and sugar.
9. Transfer the muffins from the pan to a rack, then brush with the lemon mixture, making sure that some of the undissolved sugar is on each muffin.