My fig tart is the perfect way to showcase ripe juicy figs. It’s made up of a shortcrust pastry covered in almond cream, stewed figs and fresh figs.
It’s fig season again!
I came across these beautiful figs in my local supermarket and jumped on them! Figs are only available for a very short period of time in Switzerland, and I always seem to miss them. But not this year!
The next question was… What to make? I wanted to make a dessert that would really highlight the fruit seeing as they were nice and ripe. I decided to use a combination of fresh and cooked figs for my dessert.
I opted for making a fig tart, adding an almond cream and caramelised stewed figs to complement the fresh fig topping. After a couple of experiments, I found that baking the tart for a few minutes really improved the texture and the juiciness of the fresh figs.
Make ahead option
There are different components to this tart but you can make most of them ahead of time. Here’s a schedule to help you plan.
2 days earlier: prepare the shortcrust pastry and refrigerate until ready to use.
1 day earlier: make the almond cream and stewed figs.
1 day earlier: bake the shortcrust pastry and set aside
On the day: put everything together
Fig tart
My fig tart is the perfect way to showcase ripe juicy figs. It’s made up of a shortcrust pastry covered in almond cream, stewed figs and fresh figs.
Shortcrust pastry
- 125 g (1 stick) butter (softened)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 lemon zest
- 60 g (1/2 cup) icing sugar
- 60 g (1/2 cup) almond flour
- 250 g (2 cups) flour
Almond cream
- 50 g (1/4 cup) butter (softened )
- 50 g (1/4 cup) sugar
- 50 g (1/2 cup) almond flour
- 1 egg
- 10 g (1 tbps) rhum
- 15 g (1.5 tbsp) cream
Stewed figs
- 250 g figs (about 5-6 figs)
- 10 g (1 tbsp) honey
- 15 g (1 1/2 tbsp) brown sugar
- 1/2 lemon juice
- 1 g (a pinch) of pectin (optional)
Putting it all together
- 700-800 g figs (14 to 16 figs)
- 10 g (1 tbsp) icing sugar
Shortcrust pastry
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In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, icing sugar, lemon zest and almond flour. Add the egg and mix to combine. Add the flour in one go and beat shortly until it has been absorbed.
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Shape into a flattened disk, and wrap in a plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours or even better, overnight.
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Roll out the dough so that it’s 3mm (0.1 inch) thick. Carefully place the dough in a 35×11 cm rectangular pie tin and refrigerate again for 1-1h30. Chilling the dough again will prevent the dough from shrinking when baking.
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Preheat the oven to 180°C (355F) and blind bake the pie crust for 20 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Almond cream
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In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the butter and sugar until combined. Add the rest of the ingredients except the egg. Be careful to mix gently as the more you beat the almond cream, the more air gets incorporated into the mixture. This could cause the mixture to inflate during baking. Finally add the egg and mix gently until combined.
Stewed figs
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Wash and cut the figs into pieces.
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Place the figs, honey, brown sugar, lemon juice and pectin into a small pan and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool. Chill until ready to use.
Putting it all together
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Preheat the oven to 180°C.
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Bring the almond cream back to room temperature (to make it more spreadable) and pour it into the bottom of the baked tart crust. Spread evenly. Bake for 20 minutes or until the almond cream is slightly set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
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Spread the stewed figs onto the almond cream.
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Wash the figs and cut them into 4 or 6 pieces (depending on their size). Dust the figs with the icing sugar before placing them upright onto the stewed figs. The icing sugar will help make the figs extra juicy.
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Bake for 8 min. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before serving.