My kind colleague Julie, who lives just a few blocks away and has a huge fig tree in her yard, generously shared her bumper crop of figs with us last month. (We also have a fig tree in our yard, but it's a different variety and our larger figs don't mature until later in the season. And we lose the vast majority of fruit to the birds.) Julie provided me with a few kilos of figs that she had picked and I was determined to turn them into desserts as soon as possible.
I decided to make Rose Levy Beranbaum's "Fig Tart with Mascarpone Cream" from The Pie and Pastry Bible. The recipe uses her "Sweet Nut Cookie Tart Crust," which you fully bake and then fill with a mascarpone-whipped cream filling that you chill to set before adding figs. Unfortunately, I had a lot of problems with the crust.
You can make the crust in the food processor or by hand; I chose the food processor. I ground pecans with sugar; pulsed in cubed cold butter; added flour and salt; and incorporated an egg and heavy cream. I pressed the dough together, kneaded it lightly, and chilled it for 30 minutes. Then I rolled it out, used it to line a fluted tart pan with a removable bottom, chilled the shaped crust for an hour, and blind baked it. Since I had so many figs, I intended to make two tarts and I made two crusts. Both came out wonky. I could tell by just looking at both of them that something had gone terribly wrong. After the crusts were totally cooled, I tried to release them from the pan and they were completely stuck. I decided to compost them and I basically had to use brute force scrape the crusts out of the pans, bit by bit. The crusts were sandy and had a very strange texture. If I had used those crusts to make the tarts, it would have been impossible to remove the slices from the pans.
I went to crust plan B, which was to use the crust recipe from this Cream Cheese Crostata with Orange Marmalade. The baked crusts looked much better, so I decided to go ahead with the filling, which is a bit complicated. First, you put egg yolks and sugar in a double boiler and you whisk the mixture until it triples in volume and thickens. (The recipe also includes a tablespoon of sweet marsala, to evoke the flavor of tiramisu, but I skipped the alcohol.) You transfer the egg-sugar mixture into a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and chill it until completely cooled. You beat mascarpone cheese in a separate bowl until creamy, gradually beat in the cooled egg-sugar mixture, and set it aside.
Meanwhile, you beat heavy cream and sugar until it begins to thicken; add vanilla and a warm mixture of gelatin dissolved in water; and beat the mixture until stiff peaks form. You fold the whipped cream mixture into the mascarpone mixture, scrape it into the baked tart shell, and chill the filled tart for at least an hour to set. Then you arrange sliced figs on top and brush on a glaze made by cooking lemon juice, water, sugar, and cornstarch until thickened. (Interestingly enough, the cookbook says you should apply the glaze with "a pastry brush or feather." I have never seen feathers sold for culinary use!) Then you chill the finished tart for at least an hour before unmolding it.
When I was ready to release the tart, I found out that it was stuck around the edges. I forced the tines of a chocolate dipping fork between the edges of crust and the sides of the pan to try to free it. Instead, the sides of the crust just crumbled. You can see in the photo above that the crust that should be around the perimeter of the tart is missing. After I finally removed the tart ring, I tried to get the tart off of the bottom of the pan. It was stuck. I tried to scrape slices off of the base using a sharp cake server, with mixed success. Some slices fell apart. Sometimes I succeeded in bisecting the crust and managed to free a slice while leaving a thin layer of crust behind. In general, the crust was such a mess that I couldn't take the tart to work because it was impossible to get clean slices. The slice in the photo above was one of the few that managed to stay in once piece.
Crust nightmare aside, the tart was delicious. The filling was so light and creamy and it was a beautiful pairing with the fresh and jammy figs. The crust was firm and buttery -- but I have no idea why my crust game was so off when I made this tart. There are times when I feel like nothing is going right in the kitchen and when that happens, I always wonder if I've lost my baking mojo. I have no explanation why I managed to screw up two crust different recipes -- including one that I've made successfully before -- but at least in the end we were still able to enjoy the delicious figs!
Recipe: "Fig Tart with Mascarpone Cream" from The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.
Previous Posts:
I decided to make Rose Levy Beranbaum's "Fig Tart with Mascarpone Cream" from The Pie and Pastry Bible. The recipe uses her "Sweet Nut Cookie Tart Crust," which you fully bake and then fill with a mascarpone-whipped cream filling that you chill to set before adding figs. Unfortunately, I had a lot of problems with the crust.
You can make the crust in the food processor or by hand; I chose the food processor. I ground pecans with sugar; pulsed in cubed cold butter; added flour and salt; and incorporated an egg and heavy cream. I pressed the dough together, kneaded it lightly, and chilled it for 30 minutes. Then I rolled it out, used it to line a fluted tart pan with a removable bottom, chilled the shaped crust for an hour, and blind baked it. Since I had so many figs, I intended to make two tarts and I made two crusts. Both came out wonky. I could tell by just looking at both of them that something had gone terribly wrong. After the crusts were totally cooled, I tried to release them from the pan and they were completely stuck. I decided to compost them and I basically had to use brute force scrape the crusts out of the pans, bit by bit. The crusts were sandy and had a very strange texture. If I had used those crusts to make the tarts, it would have been impossible to remove the slices from the pans.
I went to crust plan B, which was to use the crust recipe from this Cream Cheese Crostata with Orange Marmalade. The baked crusts looked much better, so I decided to go ahead with the filling, which is a bit complicated. First, you put egg yolks and sugar in a double boiler and you whisk the mixture until it triples in volume and thickens. (The recipe also includes a tablespoon of sweet marsala, to evoke the flavor of tiramisu, but I skipped the alcohol.) You transfer the egg-sugar mixture into a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and chill it until completely cooled. You beat mascarpone cheese in a separate bowl until creamy, gradually beat in the cooled egg-sugar mixture, and set it aside.
Meanwhile, you beat heavy cream and sugar until it begins to thicken; add vanilla and a warm mixture of gelatin dissolved in water; and beat the mixture until stiff peaks form. You fold the whipped cream mixture into the mascarpone mixture, scrape it into the baked tart shell, and chill the filled tart for at least an hour to set. Then you arrange sliced figs on top and brush on a glaze made by cooking lemon juice, water, sugar, and cornstarch until thickened. (Interestingly enough, the cookbook says you should apply the glaze with "a pastry brush or feather." I have never seen feathers sold for culinary use!) Then you chill the finished tart for at least an hour before unmolding it.
Crust nightmare aside, the tart was delicious. The filling was so light and creamy and it was a beautiful pairing with the fresh and jammy figs. The crust was firm and buttery -- but I have no idea why my crust game was so off when I made this tart. There are times when I feel like nothing is going right in the kitchen and when that happens, I always wonder if I've lost my baking mojo. I have no explanation why I managed to screw up two crust different recipes -- including one that I've made successfully before -- but at least in the end we were still able to enjoy the delicious figs!
Recipe: "Fig Tart with Mascarpone Cream" from The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.
Previous Posts:
- "Figs from the Supermarket, Crust from Heaven: Fig-Pistachio Frangipane Tartlets,"September 25, 2018.
- "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.
- "Oh Bring Us a Figgy Tart: Fig and Almond Tart," August 16, 2010.
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