Rosemary-Scented Mascarpone Fig Tart
I love figs. Absolutely love them. It kills me not to have a fig tree and so I happily empty my pockets each week during fig season to pick up a few of these bizarre looking treasures. Its funny though–I hardly ever cook/bake much with figs because they never seem to be around very long. I’m trying to work on that this year in the name of self control, for you, my dear readers. The pains I suffer for you–I don’t gorge myself on figs like the fig glutton that I am. Today’s proof: a Rosemary-Scented Mascarpone Fig Tart.
This delicious dessert was inspired by the very artistic stylings of the Zen Man. I started from my base graham cracker crust recipe, but tweaked it to highlight rosemary rather than the cinnamon that I include in the usual base recipe (something I’ll definitely be doing more often…I’ll have to try some other aromatic herbs as well…thyme comes to mind…).
Inside the crust is a whipped mix of mascarpone, cream, and lemon zest for a really fluffy, cheesecake-like texture but with a lighter, more vibrant feel and flavor that’s fresh, but doesn’t scream lemon. On top of this, the star of the show: the figs (I’ll confess reader…I did eat a few…recovery is a slow process)! I tried to present them nicely by alternating the light/dark colors, but figs can be a bit of an ugly duckling, so its not perfect. These are drizzled with a mix of honey and rosewater to add to the honeyed sweetness of those wonderful fruits. All together, I was in my glory. Simple, sweet, creamy, floral, and most importantly: figgy! Plus, talk about a quick dessert to put together…
- 1 Graham cracker crust, but with slight modifications:
- leaves from 2-3 rosemary sprigs
- reduce the cinnamon to ~1/4 tsp
- 8 ounces mascarpone
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
- zest of 1 lemon
- 10-20 figs (depends on size, I used both Brown Turkey and Calmyrna)
- 1/4 cup honey (I used orange blossom)
- 1 tsp rosewater
The first thing you’ll need to do is make your graham cracker crust, but with some slight modifications. Strip the leaves off of the rosemary sprigs, dice them up very finely, and add them in when you would have added the cinnamon in the original recipe. Also, use less cinnamon–just a dash of it. You don’t want it to overpower the rosemary.
Prebake your crust blind and set it aside to cool while you work on the rest of the tart.
Take a moment and look around. Does anyone see you? No? Good, steal a fig or two. Ok, with those that remain, circumcise the figs (lol, that’s the best I could come up with for “carefully slice of the dangling part”). Slice the figs from top to bottom into roughly equal sized pieces…something between 1/4 and 1/8 of the fig, depending on the size you’re happy with. Set these aside for now.
And now for the filling. Zest a lemon and grate/dice the zest up as finely as you can. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the mascarpone, cream, sugar, and lemon until smooth and somewhat firm. Scoop this into your pie crust and spread it as evenly as you can.
Now, carefully arrange the fig slices on top of the whipped filling. Maybe eat another fig while you’re at it. Nobody has to know.
In a saucepan, warm up the honey a little bit to loosen it up and make it easier to spread. Once it looks less viscous, mix in the rosewater. Drizzle this all over the tart and transfer it to the fridge to firm up a bit before serving time.
Enjoy!
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