First off melt the butter for about 30 secs in a microwave or on the hob. Then chop the figs in half and slice into about 5 bits so you get some nice chunks of fig and zest your orange. Now sieve into a large bowl the flour, caster sugar and baking powder then add in the figs and orange zest and mix well together.

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In a cup beat the two eggs and add in the melted butter and the vanilla extract then we can bring it all together. Pour the mixture into the flour and with your hands mix it together until it comes together into a fairly sticky ball of dough. It'll be quite a wet dough and that's fine as we want it to spread slightly as it cooks.

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Dust a clean work surface with a fair bit of flour then split the dough in two and roll with your hands into two round logs about 20cm long. Using plenty of flour on the work surface will make reduce the stickiness on the outside of the logs and allow a good crust to build up when cooking.

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Now place the logs on a baking tray lined with parchment and bake in the oven at 180c (360f) for 30 mins. When you take it out it should have spread slightly which will give you that classic biscotti shape. So once done just leave on the tray to cool.

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Once cooled cut each log on a slight diagonal into 1cm slices and lay them flat back on a  lined tray (you'll need two). At this point I always end up just eating the ends as they just won't balance, well that's my excuse.

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Bake the slices at 160c (320f) for 8 mins, turn them over and then give them another 8 mins on the other side until they have gone a golden brown and dried out. Now just remove from the oven and cool on a rack.

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Packaged in an air tight container they will keep for up to a fortnight if you can resist them that long