Baking| Fresh Fig & Frangipane Buckwheat Tartlets
“If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony.”
Fruit in baking continue to hold my interest. I knew I had to get some fresh figs back from our visit to Pune as we don’t ever find them here in North India. Bought some from a roadside stall while driving down from Mahabaleshwar, and the old lady gave me MANY instructions to protect this luscious fruit after she asked me where I was from. Figs must be allowed to ripen fully on the tree before they are picked. They will not ripen if picked when immature. A ripe fruit will be slightly soft and starting to bend at the neck. Fresh figs do not keep well and can be stored in the refrigerator for only 2 – 3 days.
Worked pretty well in the frangipane, but that’s maybe because it’s just a small quantity and doesn’t make a major difference. I think I’ve seen some frangipane recipes that don’t use any sort of flour at all. Well, whichever way, the end result was delicious and pretty too. Looking at the vibrant colour the fig slices took on after being baked, I often wish that we got fresh figs here in North India too ! Maybe one day ….
Fresh Fig Buckwheat Tartlets with Vanilla Scented Frangipane
Makes 1 8-9″ tart, or 6 small 3″ tartlets
Tart Pastry
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
Pinch salt
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
1/8 cup vanilla/granulated sugar
1/8 cup buttermilk (may need 1-2 tbsp extra to bind dough)
Vanilla Scented Frangipane
1/2 cup whole almonds
1/3rd cup vanilla sugar
1/3rd cup clarified butter, melted (or unsalted butter)
1 tbsp low fat cream
1 large egg
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1/8 cup buckwheat flour (or cornmeal)
2-3 tbsp strawberry vanilla preserve
About 6-8 figs, sliced
Vanilla sugar for sprinkling
Method for pastry:
Place the almonds and sugar in the processor and whiz till ground. I like the almonds coarsely ground.
And the clarified butter, egg, scraped vanilla seeds, cream and buckwheat flour and whiz again till mixed uniformly.
Preheat the oven to 170C.
Assembling the tartlets:
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32 Comments
Divina Pe
Am I the first one to comment? Hope so. I absolutely love this. I love figs but they're not available here. So seeing this post is a torture for me. I was thinking the same thing for the past few days about the combination but maybe with strawberries while we still have it. Love it.
Rosa's Yummy Yums
Delicious tartlets! I love your choice of flavors!
Cheers,
Rosa
MaryMoh
Looks absolutely delicious. I can have this everyday for my tea time.
Andy
What a lovely recipe Deeba!1 But whats that fancy contraption in the pic!!
Peter M
Oh my, I'm going to have to bookmark this for when I'm in Greece in August and the figs are at their peak.
suma
Love figs and would love a slice of this!!
Federica
wow sono una meraviglia!!!!! bravissima!!!! complimenti!! ciao!!
Lazaro Cooks!
Beautiful post. The tartlets are fantastic, love the use of figs here. Fantastic quote by FP. I just had an article published on the topic of plating food.
Here's the link, if you'd like to check it out.
A cupcake or two
Fresh figs are just divine. Deebe your tart looks delicious.
Carolyn™
They look divine. Figs are my favourite fruit, unfortunately the season is over here but I will keep this for next year.
Mark @ Cafe Campana
These figs look delicious. Yum.
tasteofbeirut
OMG! Deeba, you are always creating little masterpieces! I wish I could run to the store or the farmer's market and get these figs! Niet, nowhere to be found! I am gonna have to wait till fig season in Lebanon.
bunkycooks
I will remember to make these beautiful tarts when figs are in season here!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
How ambrosial and luscious Deeba! I know what you mean about frangipane and I think adding vanilla is a great idea 😀 Hmm I'm going to be thinking about these tarts for a long time methinks! 😛
abha
Dear Deeba,
As always,your posts bring something FRESH.
Please,this time,write a post on how do you store fragile fruits, like figs and strawberries, for long.Besides your recipes, I in particular, need to know about these tips sinc I live in a place where I have to store stuff brought back from big cities.
Madhuli
The tartlets look absolutely divine!Here the markets are flooded with figs during season of course!I didn't know it was not avaialble in NI; always took it for granted that it must be available everywhere in India.Njoying 'the last of the season'figs..Love your tartlets!
penny aka jeroxie
It's fig season and I like it as a main ingredient in a pie or dessert. Love it!
Alex T
I've been rapaciously collecting and bookmarking fig tart recipes since I aquired my own fig tree last year and the signs for this years crop are encouraging. Your recipe is currently at top of the list, can't wait.
Bellini Valli
Good choice on what to do with some of your figs Deeba. These tartlettes look scrumptious.
Aparna
I love figs, dried or fresh and they're magic with frangipane. I baked some too and posted them last week but with a different crust.
You don't get fresh figs there? I get them here, every year! 🙂
Jamie
Really beautiful, Deeba. Too creative and tasty and I'm not nuts about figs but these are magnificent and I'd certainly eat some of it. You gorgeous photography and creative baking never cease to amaze.
shayma
deebs, i admire you so much, youre so talented. you can turn anything (even figs which your kids dont like) into something gorgeous and luscious. i'd love to come over and have one with you, with a cup of chai. x shayma
Barbara Bakes
Love the quote. I really need to serve more meals with ceremony. Too often we inhale our food and move on to the next thing on our to do list. This definitely looks like a tart that needs to be celebrated.
peasepudding
Beautiful combination of fig and frangipane, two of my favourites. I have planted 2 fig trees this year since we don't seem to get many figs in NZ.
Aparna S Mallya
heavenly!
Heavenly Housewife
Gosh, this looks so yummy. You've created another masterpiece! Your family are so lucky to have you cooking and baking for them 😀
*kisses* HH
Tangled Noodle
How fantastic! So far, I've only used dried figs which simply don't have the same vibrancy of color as fresh. Your tarts look like they're adorned with budding flowers – so beautiful!
Curry Leaf
GORGEOUS.I WISH I KNEW MORE WORDS TO DESCRIBE THIS HEAVENLY CREATION.
Veggie Belly
I love the buckwheat tart! cant wait to tryit!
Avanika [YumsiliciousBakes]
Ahh I love fig desserts! And this one looks delicious!
Sarah, Maison Cupcake
I LOVE this fig tart, I would definitely choose that out of a bakery window. Fresh figs are so difficult to get here and they're expensive even in season. I'll never forget a holiday eating breakfast under a fig tree and they were dropping to the ground all around us!