Author Notes: Long time no see! I have been extremely busy working 18 hours a day in my tiny, tiny restaurant that it’s really difficult to have time to post any recipes.
As it’s still the season for figs, I got tons of them from my garden and I am making everything with figs, from salads to desserts.
Last week I came up with the idea of making a fresh fig pie with puff pastry and frangipane, which is a cream made with almond meal. So how’s that for a coincidence!
You can completely cover the pie with a puff pastry sheet or if in handicrafts mood, make a tight lattice so you get a totally closed top but muuuch prettier! I’ll post a photo when I make it again. – Maria Teresa Jorge
—Maria Teresa Jorge
Food52 Review: Let me start off by saying I have never made frangipane before and I am very lazy when it comes to rolling things out. I love the fact that there aren’t many ingredients in this tart and it is relatively quick to make. I used store bought puff pastry which seemed to work fine but since it starts out in a sheet I was unsure how much thinner I had to go. I improvised the thickness and when I put the figs on top they were so lovely that I wanted to do a lattice so you could see them. Just be careful of how much frangipane you use as I had some oozing issues. The bottom line is that this is a very simple, forgiving recipe that yields great results. The puff pastry makes it elegant and the combination of fig and frangipane is so classic and could work for a brunch or dessert. I served with creme fraiche and it disappeared in seconds! – Brita —The Editors
Serves: 8
Ingredients
Pie
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2
sheets of puff pastry made with butter if possible
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2
cups frangipane (see recipe below)
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12 to 14
fresh figs, either green or black
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1
egg beaten
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Icing sugar for dusting
Frangipane (Almond Cream)
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4
ounces soft butter
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4
ounces sugar
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4
ounces almond meal (no skin)
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2
eggs
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1
tablespoon all purpose flour
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1
pinch salt
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1
pinch baking powder
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1
teaspoon Almond or Vanilla Extract
Directions
- Roll out one the puff pastry sheets between 2 parchment papers so it’s quite thin.
- Cut the top and bottom of the figs and cut in half, leaving the skin on.
- Spread the frangipane cream on the pastry leaving a 1 inch border. Cover the cream with halved figs neatly together, skin side down. Cover with the other puff pastry which should be thicker then the bottom part so you get a nice high puffy top. If making the top in lattice, cut strips of pastry and weave them together very closely so it’s like a covered top only in lattice.
- Please remember that puff pastry is made of layeres of flour and butter and for these layers to rise, the edges have to be cut very sharply, otherwise the layers glue together and won’t rise. Use a sharp knife and cut down rather then with a pulling motion.
- Once the top pastry is in place, brush the bottom layer with water and gently press on the top layer to make the top glue to the bottom. Then, with a very sharp knife trim around the pie so both top and bottom are identical.
- Brush the top pastry with beaten egg and prick with a toothpick to make little ventilation holes for any steam to come out. If the top is latticed, there is no need to make the ventilation holes.
- Put the pie in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Cook the pie until the pastry is golden brown.
- Allow to cool and dust with Icing Sugar. Serve as is or with vanilla Ice-cream or fresh cream.
- Frangipane
- Sift flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.
- Beat the butter and sugar until very pale and fluffy. Add the almond or vanilla extract and incorporate.
- Add the eggs, one at a time and beat very well until mixture is very light and airy.
- Fold in the almond meal and the flour mixture. Any leftover Frangipane can be kept in the fridge for 1 week.
