3-Ingredient Honey-Butter Figs Take Dessert to the Next Level

Caramelizing fresh figs up in a bit of honey and butter highlights their sweet flavor and makes them seem extra-fancy. (Hot tip: this can also really improve underripe figs!)

These figs are delicious simply browned in the honey-butter mixture, but you can really kick them up a notch if you use what's left in the pan to make a sauce using tawny port, Madeira, or other another fortified wine.

22 Tasty Fig Recipes to Enjoy This Luscious Fruit

Ways to Use These Luscious Figs

Serve the figs in small bowls or—even better—spoon them over ice cream for a luxurious dessert that comes together in about 15 minutes.

They're also wonderful on a cheese plate, over yogurt, or with a dollop of whipped cream. The recipe calls for 12 figs (about the number of smaller figs in a pint container), but it's easily doubled if you'd like to make more.

The Simple Ingredients You Need to Make Honeyed Figs

This recipe requires just three ingredients. Here's the rundown:

• Figs: You can use any fig variety in this recipe. Since fresh figs can be hard to come by, snap up whatever kind you see that looks good when they're in season—in the U.S., figs have a short early summer season followed by a longer season later in the summer and through the fall. Figs should be plump and should give slightly to pressure. Figs may soften once they are picked, but they won't truly ripen, so you are better off getting figs that are slightly overripe than underripe. Some splitting and blemishes are ok, as long as the figs aren't shrunken, oozing, moldy, or smell fermented.
• Butter: Though this recipe calls for unsalted butter, a little salt plays nicely with the sweetness of the figs and honey, so feel free to use salted if that's all you have on hand.
• Honey: As with the figs, you can use any type of honey, though a milder honey like clover, alfalfa, or orange blossom will let the flavor of the figs shine through.

Not required, but these ingredients make for an extra-EXTRA tasty treat:

• Fortified Wine (optional): Though it's optional, adding a couple of tablespoons of tawny port or Madeira to the mixture makes a wonderful sticky, sweet sauce for spooning over ice cream.
• Ice Cream or Whipped Cream: For an even more special dessert, serve the figs over sweet cream or vanilla ice cream—or fig ice cream, if you're lucky enough to find it or you make your own! Or dollop whipped cream, mascarpone, or crème fraîche over them. They're also lovely on yogurt for a special breakfast.