This is another gem of a recipe that I’d hungrily bookmarked too long ago from a fairly vintage and thumbed copy of Vogue’s ‘Entertaining and Travel’. Being unavailable in the UK, I’ve only a prized handful of these gorgeous and teasing magazines from a friends visits to Dubai. However, the recipes are a pleasing port of call for inspiration and I shall attribute the belated testing of this recipe to ‘savouring’ of my limited supply.
With a punnet of figs putting on a brave face in the face of an over-ripe death sitting safely in the fridge it seemed like an Autumn pleaser. With the added bonus that I ADORE anything with coconut it certainly was pleasing…
Makes 1 large tart (or use smaller ones if preferred)
Pastry
- 225g plain flour
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
- 125g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
- 1 egg
Filling
- 200g desiccated coconut
- 300ml weak, cooled tea
- 5 eggs
- 220g caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Grated zest 1 lemon
- 100g dark chocolate, chopped (Min 70%)
- 6 figs
- Honey to glaze
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line a 26cm, deepish tart tin.
- For the pastry, place the butter, flour and icing sugar in food processor and blend until you get a breadcrumb-like texture (or rub together by hand). Add the beaten egg and combine until you form a smooth dough, being gentle when handling. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Roll the chilled pastry onto a floured surface and line the greased tart tin. Place on a baking tray and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Line with baking paper and fill generously with baking beans and bake blind for 15-20 minutes until the edges are a light golden. Remove the beans and return to the oven to allow the base to cook and turn pale gold. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.
- Reduce the oven to 170°C.
- Place the coconut in a large bowl and cover with the tea. Whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla and lemon together in another bowl before adding the soaked coconut.
- Scatter the chopped chocolate over the base of the pastry case and top with the coconut-egg filling.
- Bake for about 30-35 minutes until set and golden. Leave to cool in the tin.
- Slice the figs into circles and place on top of the cooled tart in concentric circles. Warm a few tbsps of runny honey in a sauce pan and use a pastry brush to glaze the figs. Scatter with more coconut and serve with a large spoonful of lime/lemon scented mascarpone if you like!
