Rustic Fig Tart
To make the dough in a food processor,
Ingredients:
Buttery Dough
2 cups unsifted bleached
1/8 teaspoon salt
11 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons)
cold unsalted butter, cut into small rough
chunks
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cold large egg
1 teaspoon cold milk
1 ¼ teaspoons vanilla extract
Spiced and Sugar-Sweetened Figs
3 tablespoons granulated sugar whisked
with ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon and ¼
teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
18 fresh figs (about 2 ½ generous pints),
stemmed and left whole
2 tablespoons granulated sugar, for
sprinkling on the folded edges of the
unbaked tart (optional, if you are not using
the confectioners’ sugar finish)
Red Currant Jelly Glaze (optional)
About 2/3 cup best-quality red currant jelly
Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling on the
baked tart (optional)
Serving: one tart, creating 12 pie-shape wedges
Ahead: best on baking day
Directions:
place the flour , baking powder, and salt in
the work bowl of a food processor fitted with
the steel blade. Cover and process, using
quick on-off pulses, to combine the
ingredients, 5 to 10 seconds. Add the
chunks of butter, cover, and process to
reduce the butter to smaller bits. Uncover,
sprinkle over the granulated sugar, cover,
and pulse once or twice to combine. Whisk
the egg, milk and vanilla extract in a small
mixing bowl. Pour the egg mixture over the
flour and butter mixture, cover and process
using 10 to 15 on-off pluses, until the
mixture just begins to come together in
small clumps. The clumps should look
moist. Turn the beginnings of the dough
onto a work surface and gather it into one
solid mass, smoothing it together lightly with
the heel of your hand into a round cake.
To make the dough by hand, whisk the
flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium-
size mixing bowl. Drop in the chunks of
butter and, using a pastry blender or two
round-bladed table knives, cut the fat into
the flour mixture until reduced to smaller
morsels (irregular bits of butter are fine).
Sprinkle over the granulated sugar and use
a fork to mix it through the butter mixture.
With your fingertips, dip into the buttered
flour mixture and crumble it to further
disperse the fat. Whisk the egg, milk, and
vanilla extract in a small mixing bowl. Pour
the egg mixture over the flour and butter
mixture and mix to form a dough, using a
flat wooden paddle or sturdy spatula. It will
come together in moist clumps. Turn the
rough lumps and pieces of dough onto a
work surface. Press, smear, and pat the
dough into one solid mass, using the heel of
your hand, forming it into a round cake.
Wrap the cake of dough in a sheet of waxed
paper and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Roll the dough between two sheets of
waxed paper into a 12 to 13-inch round. It’s
fine if the edges are slightly ragged and
misshapen – this adds to the charm of the
overall tart – but be sure to make as even a
circle as possible. Place the tart dough
round on a cookie sheet or rimmed sheet
pan and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F in
advance of baking.
Line a rimmed sheet pan with a length of
ovenproof parchment paper.
To form the tart, carefully peel away the rip
sheet of waxed paper from the dough. Invert
the dough round onto the center of the
parchment paper-lined baking pan and peel
away the second sheet of waxed paper. Let
the dough stand for 15 to 30 minutes, or
until just pliable (this will depend upon the
ambient temperature of your kitchen). If the
dough is too cold, it will crack, splinter, and
break when folding it over the figs; if this
happens, it is not the end of the world, so
just firmly smooth over and press together
the cracks with your fingertips to reunite the
sections of dough. Rustic is rustic – and
pretty.
Sprinkle the surface of the dough with 1
tablespoon of the spiced sugar mixture
(taken from the 3-tablespoon quantity),
leaving a 2 ½ to 3- inch outer band of dough
clear of sugar. Place the figs in a medium-
size bowl, sprinkle over the remaining 2
tablespoons spiced sugar, and toss well
(but lightly). Spoon the sugar-spiced figs in
one layer onto the center portion of the
sugared surface.
Fold over the band of tart dough to create
an overlapping border. You can use a
flexible palette knife or small offset metal
spatula to help lift the dough up slightly and
partially over the mound of figs. Make a few
pleats in the border as necessary. The
center portion of it will be covered with the
pastry dough. Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons
sugar on top of the folded-over tart dough
border, if you are not planning on dusting
the edges of the baked tart with
confectioners’ sugar.
Bake the tart in the preheated oven for 45
minutes, or until the figs are tender, the
natural fruit juices gurgle up here and there,
and the pastry is set and golden. Let the tart
stand on the baking pan on a cooling rack
for 20 minutes. If you are glazing the tart
with the red currant jelly, warm the jelly in a
small saucepan over the low heat until
melted down completely and bring to the
barest simmer, then paint the figs with the
jelly, using a soft pastry brush. Cool the tart
to warm or to room temperature. If you have
not sugared the folded edges before baking,
sift a little confectioners’ sugar over the
rims’ folds before cutting into generous
wedges for serving.
Notes:
 Aim for selecting small figs, but small to
medium ones will do just fine (leave
those whole as well)
 Use a serrated knife, preferably an
offset one, for slicing the tart; a serrate
knife will cut through the baked tart
attractively without tearing the tender,
yet stable, pastry.