It is early November, and this last weekend we picked the last of the figs from our fig tree in the garden. It is quite lovely to have some fresh fruit in the garden this late in the year. I usually make a pistachio tart with apricots in the summer, but with so many figs I couldn’t resist these fig honey pistachio tarts. They are quite fragrant from the figs with subtle fresh nutty aroma from the pistachios and almonds.
There is quite a substantial amount of nut flour in this recipe, both pistachio and almond. For best results try to find good quality fresh nut flour.
It is even better to make the flour yourself, which is quite easy. It requires the use of a food processor and the process takes around a minute or so. Basically, just add the whole nuts along with the flour in the food processor and pulse until the texture resembles nut flour. It will not be fine as the wheat flour, but as long as it has no chunks and it is soft under the fingertips, it should be good to go.
The little fig honey pistachio tarts are great with your morning coffee or the afternoon tea.
It is quite simple to make this tart. You just prep the wet and dry ingredients separately, mix them and fold in the softly whipped egg whites. The quartered figs are placed on top of the assembled tarts and baked for around 25 minutes at 165°C (360°F).
If you have any fig honey pistachio tarts by the end of the day, you are in luck as they keep really well sealed in an airtight container for a couple of days.
Fig honey pistachio tart
Equipment & Tools
- 5 small (12cm; 4.7in) round flutted loose-bottom tart tins
- Food processor, optional
- Stand mixer
INGREDIENTS
Dry ingredients
- 100 g pistachio flour (Note 2)
- 68 g almond flour (Note 2)
- 75 g pastry flour
- 20 g spelt flour (whole grain (Note 1))
- pinch kosher salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
Wet Ingredients
- 70 g unsalted butter
- 150 g honey (flower/field honey)
- 1 lemon, zest
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (Nielsen-Massey)
- 2 eggs (separate yolks and whites)
Other ingredients
- 8 figs (quartered)
- unsalted (for brushing the tart tins)
- powdered sugar, or honey (for baked tarts)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Gather all the ingredients.Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F).
- Wash, pat dry, and quarter the figs. Set aside.Brush the tart tins with butter. Set aside.
- Add all the flours, salt, and the baking powder to a mixing bowl. Stir well to incorporate all the ingredients. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer, fitted with padle attachment, beat honey and butter until nice and creamy. Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract and mix until all the ingredients are uniformly distributed.
- Continue mixing and add one egg yolk at a time.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until there are no dry patches of flour. Set aside.
- Beat the egg whites until the soft peaks start to form. (Note 3)
- Fold in the egg whites into the tart batter so that there is no white patches of egg whites visible.
- Ladle the tart batter into the buttered tart tins evenly. Level the surface as much as possible (Note 4)
- Place quartered figs on top of the batter with stems towards the center.
- Bake the tarts for about 25 minutes or until they start to take on golden color.
- Let them cool to room temperature before serving. Additionaly, you can dust them with powdered sugar or brush them with honey.
NOTES
- Whole grain spelt flour provides for additional moisture and sweetness to the tart.
- If you can not find pistachio and almond flour you can easily make some at home using the food processor. Add the whole raw pistachio and almonds (no skin) to the food processor and pulse until very fine. Note that if you process the nuts too long the whole mixture will start to turn into nut butter. To help with this, process the nuts with the flour, which will help keep the mixture dryer and the whole process will take less time.
- The soft peaks should be extra soft, meaning that they really don’t hold the shape. The idea is to add just a bit of a fluffy texture with the egg whites, but not too light.
- Don’t worry if it is not perfectly flat, since you will add the figs on top. The batter will rise around the figs as the tarts bake, so you need a relatively even surface to achieve a nice and even rise.
