Fig Tart

This is one of those recipes that was a complete disaster but somehow I fixed and it all came out ok.

I used pre-made puff pastry.  Making it is a serious ordeal and the pre-made frozen is quite good so when I use puff pastry that’s what I get.

The concept was using a pistachio base for the figs to bake into.  I found a recipe on line that needed doctoring although I figured that out in the oven.

1 cup butter (should have been 1/2 cup)

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

2 cups ground almonds (should have been 3)

2 tbsp. flour (probably should have been 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup chopped pistachios

Mix all of this together.

I formed the pie and baked at 350 for about 20 minutes.  The dough was lined with parchment paper and then filled with beans.  Once the edges started to brown I took the beans and parchment paper out.  I then coated the bottom of the pie with the nut mixture.  I should have let the pie crust really cook on the bottom first.  Then I put the figs in.

About 20 minutes of baking time it was obvious this nut mixture was not going to set.  I took it out, mixed the figs around and out and scooped a lot of the mixture out and then replaced the figs and set it back in the oven.  Having less nut mixture worked but not totally.  The ends were starting to brown so I wrapped tinfoil around the pie and let the middle continue to bake.  I saw the middle start to puff and thought that was a good sign.  All and all the pie probably stayed in the oven for almost an hour.  Once I was confident that the dough was completely cooked I took the pie out of the oven to cool.

I served this pie with drizzled honey and fresh ricotta.  It was actually pretty good but what a disaster.  One of those things that the longer you bake the more you can doctor a disaster.