Baking Bonanza!!

Mid-July. Vacation: started. I love this. No homework, no early morning bus rush, no lunches, no meal plans. I have been off for 3 days and my oven has been on for each one of them: raspberry peach turnovers, double chocolate raspberry muffins and now a fig tart with raspberry jam. There's definitely a theme here!

Raspberry season is in full swing and my shrubs are producing an abundance of fruit this year. Even with almost no water (it hasn't rained here in weeks) they are juicy, ripe, ruby jewels! They even had a little house guest, can you see him?



Figs are also in season. Oh! boy do I love figs! I love a nice fig and prosciutto salad, it's my favourite this time of year.



I bought a flat of figs and found this recipe that I had made with dried figs in winter one year. This time I used fresh figs and modified it a bit to modified it a bit to make it dairy free.


Fig and Almond Tart - adapted from the LCBO.


Pastry

3 tbsp (45 mL) ground almonds
1 cup (250 mL) whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup (75 mL) vegan shortening sticks, cubed


Filling

9 to 10 figs, stemmed and cut in half - if they are small, you will need 15-16.
½ cup (125 mL) ground almonds
2 eggs
1/3 cup (75 mL) sugar
1 tbsp (15 mL) grated orange rind
½ tsp (2 mL) vanilla extract
¾ cup (250 mL) coconut milk (Open the can, pour into a small sauce pot and gently heat until uniform. Store the rest for later use.


Glaze

1 cup raspberries
3 tbsp maple syrup
Juice of half an orange
1 tbsp cornstarch

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF (200ºC).

2. Prepare pastry. Combine almonds and flour. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles bread crumbs. You can roll it out between two sheets of parchment paper OR pat into pan. Big fan of "pat into pan", less mess and I usually end up reconstructing my crust in some way anyway! Place parchment paper over pastry, and weight with dried beans or metal pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove weights and paper and bake 5 to 10 minutes longer or until pastry is pale gold.




3. Reduce heat to 350ºF (180ºC).

4. Place figs on base of tart in a circular pattern. Whisk together almonds, eggs, sugar, orange rind, vanilla and coconut milk. Pour over figs.

5. Place in oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until custard is set. Cool.

6. Heat raspberries and maple syrup in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. In a small bowl whisk orange juice and cornstarch together. When the raspberries have become liquid, whisk in
orange and cornstarch mixture. Stirring occasionally, let it come to a low boil and thicken. Strain it to remove the seeds (or not - but for the purpose of a glaze, I recommend it). Brush over figs.

It turned out a bit redder then I expected but that's what raspberries are all about!

Serves 8