What To Do With Dried Figs

I don't have a lot of experience using figs in my cooking or baking but the following recipes make me want to change all that. Of course, baked goods are a pretty easy sell. I haven't met many of those that I didn't like. Fresh figs don't come out until late summer, but dried figs can theoretically be found any time of year.

• Figgy Buckwheat Scones from 101 Cookbooks - includes a recipe for Fig Butter cooked with port.
• St. Joseph's Fig Cookies at SeriousEats.com come from Sicily via New Orleans. These look so much better than Fig Newtons.
  
• Also from SeriousEats.com are these Fig & Almond Cookies that also look really tasty.
• Bread Pudding with Dried Fruit and Créme Anglaise on page 273 of Williams - Sonoma: Entertaining (2004).