Fig Frangipane Tart - makes one rectangular tart
Pastry
¼ cup icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
¼ cup almond meal
1⅓ cups plain flour
110 g (4 oz) cold unsalted butter, diced
1 egg, lightly beaten
Cold water
Frangipane
100g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
2 eggs
2 tbs plain flour
100g almond meal
1 tbs orange juice
½ cup fig or apricot jam
Topping
4 small figs, halved lengthwise
1 tablespoon sugar
Optional - apricot jam to glaze
Pastry
To make the pastry, combine all the dry ingredients in a food processor, and whiz for a few seconds until well combined and free of lumps. Add the cold butter and whiz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and sufficient cold water and whiz until a soft dough just starts to form around the blade. Remove the dough from the food processor and gather the pastry into a ball; flatten slightly before wrapping in plastic and placing in the fridge. Refrigerate the pastry for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 190°C, conventional. Roll out the pastry thinly on a floured board then line a rectangular tart tin with the dough. Ease the dough into the flutes and trim the edges before returning the tart tin to the fridge while you prepare the filling. You won’t use all the pastry but it freezes well so just wrap any remaining pastry in plastic wrap and store in the freezer.
To assemble the tart, remove that tart shell from the
fridge. Cover the base of the tart with ½ cup of fig or apricot jam. Carefully
cover the jam with the frangipane filling. Smooth the top with a knife. Spoon
the paste into the pastry case and place the figs on top then sprinkle the figs
with the sugar.
Place the tart on a baking tray to catch any spills
before placing in the preheated oven. Bake for 45 minutes – 1 hours or until
the filling is set and the pastry nicely browned. Remove from the oven and cool
on a rack.
When cold, glaze the top of the tart with some thinned,
warmed apricot jam if desired. Unmould and cut into slices to serve.
Bye for now,
Jillian
