This is a lovely late summer/early autumn tart made with a Pate Sable pastry which is filled with fragrant frangipane and luscious black Turkish figs.

I made this wonderful tart for a dinner party with our friend’s Chelsea and James.  We love figs and use them very often from the beginning of the season until the very end.  You will often find a big bowl of them on the counter, just for noshing on throughout the day.  I normally make a savory tart of blue cheese and figs but wanted something sweeter for this event and thought the figs would go nicely with a light frangipane; I was right!  Dorie Greenspan’s pate sable recipe is by far my favorite one, as it is lightly sweet and flaky as well it is not too buttery, just prefect.   The recipe is in Dorie’s book Baking From My Home to Yours, you should own this book, it will be the baking cookbook you will ever need, Dorie includes every recipe you will ever need from the basics to the perfect party cake and all the recipes we have tried have been perfect!  I wanted the tart to have a nice shiny glaze, so I melted a little of the marmalade that we have left from Chez Pim’s amazing Bouquet des Fleurs Marmalade collection and I glazed the top during the last 5 minutes of baking.  This my friends, was a wonderful addition to the tart, not only was it shiny but the finished tart had a beautiful floral under-note.

Recipe:  Frangipane Fig Tart

1/2 cup almonds, raw, organic
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons almond extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, organic
2 eggs, organic, cage free
1 your favorite pate sable
1 pint of figs, cut in half

I use a Dorie Greenspan recipe for the Pate Sable, using a rectangle tart pan and following her instructions for baking. Preheat oven to 375.  In a food processor combine the almonds and sugar, pulse until coarse. With the processor running, add the butter one tablespoon at a time.  Add the extract and the eggs with the food processor on until mixed.  Pour into a pre-baked tart pan and smooth the top. Lay the cut figs in the pattern of your choice, on top of the Frangipane.  Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool before removing the tart from the baking pan.  Serve. Eat.