Gettin Figgy Wit It (Fig & Honey Tart)
I’m pretty jazzed, a friend is gifting me a fig tree! She took a cutting, threw it in dirt and whaddya know, it grew into a full-fledged tree. I’m going to be really embarrassed if it doesn’t survive on my watch. Farmer Deb is not a moniker associated with me.
I am content to be the recipient of anyone else’s green thumb bounty. This includes figs, which I adore. Until my little tree matures, I will happily take extra figs off your hands. Put that right in the box, next to the “what am I going to do with all these” zucchinis and persimmons.
Yep, bring it on.
Lucky for me, Snookies brought me a couple of generously filled baskets of green and purple figs. After popping a couple of them into my mouth (yum), I got online to FIG-ure out delicious ways to use these little bad boys.
A Fig & Honey Tart from The Little Epicurean caught my eye instantly. The tart is as beautiful as it is delicious AND it is pretty darn easy to make. Your friends and family will be SO impressed. Word.
To start the crust is very easy to work with. Don’t be intimidated by the whole pie crust thang. The addition of almond flour and sugar creates a tender, cookie like crust that oozes with buttery goodness. A couple of interruptions had me taking the dough in and out of the fridge before finally fitting it into the tart pan and baking it off. If the crust gets a little soft, toss it back in the fridge. By the time I rolled out the dough and placed it in the pan, talked to Jamie on the phone for a bit, it was getting pretty soft. I ended up pressing pieces into the pan, worked like a charm.
The filling is stupid easy. Combine cream cheese with honey and sugar, give it a good mix and that’s it. I added a teaspoon of vanilla to add depth. Quarter the figs and place in concentric circles on top of the filling. Dust with raw or Demerara Sugar. Go to the garage and grab your blow torch and caramelize the sugar. Drizzle honey over tart and sprinkle chopped pistachios on top. I used hazelnuts cuz that’s what I had on hand, Yums.
FRESH FIG TART WITH HONEY AND PISTACHIOS
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup almond flour
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter cut into tablespoons, cold
- 1 egg yolk cold
Filling
- 8 oz package cream cheese
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tbsp honey
- green figs or purple figs quartered, as needed
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- Pistachios or toasted hazelnuts Chopped
Instructions
Crust
- In a food process, combine flour, almond flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse to mix.
- Add cold butter. Pulse 4 times at 3 second intervals to lightly mix together the ingredients. Add egg yolk and pulse until dough begins to come together.
- Dump the dough onto a clean working surface. Gather the dough together and push into a ball. Flatten dough to about 1-inch thickness.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until well chilled.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll dough out on a lightly floured work surface. Press dough onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Let cool on wire rack to room temperature before filling with cream cheese.
Filling
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and honey. Mix until combined. Spread cream cheese filling into cooled tart shell.
- Arrange cut figs on top of cream cheese filling. Cover with plastic wrap and keep chilled in the fridge until ready to serve.
- Before serving, sprinkle with Demerara Sugar and caramelize.
- Drizzle honey over tart and sprinkle nuts on top
