Even though I've been seeing figs at Whole Foods for what seems like months now, the Celeste fig tree in our backyard has only produced a handful of fruit so far this year. There are a ton of figs growing on Figgy (yes, we named the tree when we planted it -- and we're so creative that we also have an eastern redbud named "Buddy" and a walking stick tree named "Sticky"), but for the most part they are still dark green and not even close to being ripe. Even when Figgy does have fruit ripe for the picking, it's usually a slow trickle (maybe 3-5 figs on a given day) and the fruit has a short shelf life -- so I rarely have a sufficient supply of homegrown figs for a baking project.
But I was in the mood to try the Fig and Pistachio Frangipane Tartlets in Sweet by Yotam Ottlenghi and Helen Goh so I bought a few pounds of black figs. The headnote mentions that these tartlets received an official online thumbs up after Ottolenghi posted a photo of them on Instagram. The recipe says it makes 12 tartlets (using a regular muffin tin) but also notes that you only need to use two-thirds of the pastry the recipe produces for the crusts. Since I had so many figs I decided to double the crust recipe and triple the filling recipe to produce three dozen tartlets. This recipe requires quite a bit of time so I made it a Labor Day baking project.
You make the pastry for the crust in the food processor by mixing flour, powdered sugar, salt, cold cubed butter, lemon zest, water, and an egg yolk. I formed the dough into discs, wrapped them in plastic, and chilled them for a few hours. Even after chilling the dough was soft, sticky, and difficult to handle. I rolled out the dough the best I could, using a lot of flour because it was so sticky. I cut out circles of dough that I used to line twelve buttered and floured cups in a muffin tin. The dough didn't go all the way up the sides of the tins and I found the process to be quite tedious, including trying to even out the top rim of the crust. For the remaining two dozen tarts, I switched to individual fluted tartlet pans (2.5-inches across and 0.75-inches tall) and it was much easier lining them with circles of dough, since it was easy to even out the top of the crust with the rim of the pans. I ended up using about only 75% of my double batch of dough for three dozen tartlet crusts.
I chilled the crusts for an hour, placed a paper cupcake liner in each crust, and filled them with pie weights before baking them until they were golden brown around the edges. After the shells were cool, I filled them with a pistachio frangipane made by mixing room temperature butter, granulated sugar, lemon zest, eggs, ground pistachios, ground almonds, flour, salt, and brandy. I used a scoop to drop some of the filling into each shell and then lightly pressed in a thick slice of fig. I baked the filled tarts until the frangipane was lightly golden. After taking them out of the oven, I added a smattering of finely chopped pistachios.
It was easy to remove the slightly cooled tartlets from the muffin pan and individual tins. I tried a tartlet soon after it was baked and it was phenomenal. The shortcrust pastry might have been a bit fiddly, but the crust was remarkably tender and crumbly and ethereal. The rich frangipane filling was lovely and the hunk of jammy fig complemented it perfectly without making the tartlet soggy. I kept these tartlets in the fridge and they were still good through day three (at which point we had eaten all the leftovers -- so it's possible they would have lasted even longer). The only part of the tartlet that deteriorated over time was the tender crust, which remained delicious -- but not as delicate or light as it had been when freshly baked.
I think these tartlets were absolutely worth the time and effort required to make them. Whether your figs are store bought or homegrown, these tartlets will showcase them beautifully.
Recipe: "Fig and Pistachio Frangipane Tartlets" from Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh.
Previous Posts:
But I was in the mood to try the Fig and Pistachio Frangipane Tartlets in Sweet by Yotam Ottlenghi and Helen Goh so I bought a few pounds of black figs. The headnote mentions that these tartlets received an official online thumbs up after Ottolenghi posted a photo of them on Instagram. The recipe says it makes 12 tartlets (using a regular muffin tin) but also notes that you only need to use two-thirds of the pastry the recipe produces for the crusts. Since I had so many figs I decided to double the crust recipe and triple the filling recipe to produce three dozen tartlets. This recipe requires quite a bit of time so I made it a Labor Day baking project.
You make the pastry for the crust in the food processor by mixing flour, powdered sugar, salt, cold cubed butter, lemon zest, water, and an egg yolk. I formed the dough into discs, wrapped them in plastic, and chilled them for a few hours. Even after chilling the dough was soft, sticky, and difficult to handle. I rolled out the dough the best I could, using a lot of flour because it was so sticky. I cut out circles of dough that I used to line twelve buttered and floured cups in a muffin tin. The dough didn't go all the way up the sides of the tins and I found the process to be quite tedious, including trying to even out the top rim of the crust. For the remaining two dozen tarts, I switched to individual fluted tartlet pans (2.5-inches across and 0.75-inches tall) and it was much easier lining them with circles of dough, since it was easy to even out the top of the crust with the rim of the pans. I ended up using about only 75% of my double batch of dough for three dozen tartlet crusts.
I chilled the crusts for an hour, placed a paper cupcake liner in each crust, and filled them with pie weights before baking them until they were golden brown around the edges. After the shells were cool, I filled them with a pistachio frangipane made by mixing room temperature butter, granulated sugar, lemon zest, eggs, ground pistachios, ground almonds, flour, salt, and brandy. I used a scoop to drop some of the filling into each shell and then lightly pressed in a thick slice of fig. I baked the filled tarts until the frangipane was lightly golden. After taking them out of the oven, I added a smattering of finely chopped pistachios.
I think these tartlets were absolutely worth the time and effort required to make them. Whether your figs are store bought or homegrown, these tartlets will showcase them beautifully.
Recipe: "Fig and Pistachio Frangipane Tartlets" from Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh.
Previous Posts:
- "Not For the Birds: Fig and Almond Cake," September 18, 2017.
- "Final Figs of Fall, Part II: Jammy Fig Muffins," October 18, 2012.
- "Final Figs of Fall Part I: Rolled-Oat Cake with Figs," October 16, 2012.
- "Let's Just Call It a Fig Bar: Fig Bars with Thyme," August 28, 2012.
- "A Honey of a Sweet Sauce: A Fig Cake for Fall," August 24, 2012.
- "The Not-So-Figgy Fig Tart: Fig Frangipane Tart," August 21, 2012.
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