Recipe: Fig-topped fleur de sel cookies

Total time: 1 hour

Servings: Makes about 32 cookies

Note: From Donna Deane, Times Test Kitchen director. Find shiso leaves at Japanese markets.

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon plum wine

4 figs, cut into quarters, then into eighths horizontally

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon fleur del sel, plus extra for sprinkling

1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces

2/3cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

Milk

1/2 cup fig jam

1 1/4 cups mascarpone cheese

1 shiso leaf, cut into thin strips

1. Combine the honey and one-half cup of the plum wine in a medium saucepan. Heat to boiling. Add the figs and reduce the heat to barely simmering. Cook until the figs are tender, about 5 minutes. Pour into a glass bowl and allow to cool, or cover and chill overnight.

2. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Stir in 1 teaspoon of the fleur del sel. Set aside.

3. Cream the butter until light. Add the sugar and beat until blended. Beat in the vanilla and the egg. Add the flour-baking powder mixture and beat until blended. Gather the dough into a ball and divide it in half.

4. Roll out half the dough on a lightly floured surface to one-fourth-inch thickness. Using a 2-inch scalloped cutter, cut out cookies. Repeat with the remaining dough.

5. Transfer the cookies to parchment-lined baking sheets. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle a little fleur del sel on each cookie. Bake until lightly browned around the edges, about 9 to 12 minutes. Cool.

6. Heat together the fig jam and the remaining 1 tablespoon plum wine, stirring to blend.

7. Using a large fluted tip with a pastry bag, pipe about 2 teaspoons of mascarpone cheese onto each cookie. Use a slotted spoon to lift the figs out of the liquid and place one on each cookie. Spoon a little warm jam-wine mixture on the top.

8. Sprinkle several shiso leaf strips over the top of each cookie.

Each cookie: 130 calories; 2 grams protein; 13 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 8 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 28 mg. cholesterol; 95 mg. sodium.