Walnut Dried Fig Tart Recipe

This dried fig tart recipe is a beautiful dessert to serve all year long. It’s full of walnuts and mission figs baked into a buttery crust. Make it for Thanksgiving or for your next special occasion. Plan ahead! The tart will need to cool for about 3 hours after it bakes.

What Kind of Figs to Use

Jammy Sun-Maid and Orchard Choice California Dried Mission Figs pair well with walnuts but you could just as easily use nutty Golden Figs that are more delicately sweet and a bit tangy too.

For the fig walnut filling, you will start by simmering the figs, sugar, brandy, and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. You will simmer the figs until the liquid evaporates and the figs are very soft. At this point, stir in the orange zest and walnuts and cool to room temperature.

How to Bake the Tart Crust

Mixing the Wet Ingredients: Whisk the wet ingredients of the egg, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl. This will be a one-step addition later to start hydrating the dough.

Mixing the Dry Ingredients: Next, you will combine the dry ingredients of flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt with lemon zest in a food processor. Then, you will add in cubed butter, processing until the mixture resembles coarse meal. We find about seven 1-second pulses does the trick.

Combining Wet with Dry Ingredients

Then, you add in the egg mixture, processing until the ingredients are incorporated. You will know the mixture is where it needs to be when it forms a ball. If the dough is still crumbly, add in 1 tablespoon of water—you don’t want it to be too wet. Remove the dough from the food processor, transferring it to a large bowl. Gently knead the dough until cohesive. Shape the dough into a 5-inch disk. Then, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

Finishing the Dough

Remove the dough from the refrigerator (if refrigerated longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable). Roll dough between 2 large sheets of lightly floured parchment paper to 13-inch circle about 1⁄4 inch thick. Peel off top sheet, loosely roll dough around rolling pin, then unroll over 10-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Working around circumference of pan, ease dough into pan corners by gently lifting edge of dough with one hand while pressing into corners with other hand. Press dough against fluted sides of pan, patching breaks or cracks if necessary. If some sections of edge are too thin, reinforce by folding excess dough back on itself. Run rolling pin over top of tart pan to remove any excess dough. The finished edge should be 1⁄4 inch thick. If not, press dough up over edge of pan and pinch. Freeze dough-lined pan for 30 minutes.

Baking the Tart

The tart will bake at a low heat. Once the fig and walnut mixture has cooled, spread it into the tart shell, evening out the top with the back of a spoon or offset spatula to work filling into the edges of a tart shell. Bake until the edges of the tart are lightly browned. You’ll cool the tart to room temperature, about 3 hours.

Pro-Tips for the Dried Fig Tart Recipe

You won’t want to add too much water to this dough. Instead, add a tablespoon of water and process the dough, testing it by squeezing a handful. If it doesn’t come together, add a splash of water. If it does come together, then no more water is necessary.

You’ll be processing the tart dough in a food processor, but avoid overworking the dough by finishing kneading it by hand—at this point If you were to continue processing the dough in a food processor until it comes together into a ball, the baked crust will be tough and overly crisp, not flaky and biscuit-like, which is the desired texture).

Storage of the Fig Tart

The cooled tart can be refrigerated for up to several days. Just before serving, dust with confectioners’ sugar and cut into slices.