Easy fig tart recipe with puff pastry
Store-bought puff pastry makes this fig tart recipe quick and easy. Ready from start to finish in under 30 minutes, these tarts are perfect for a quick treat. A handful of fresh figs, a sheet of puff pastry and a bit of sweetened cream cheese come together to make a delicious and simple dessert.
I’ll give you variations and substitutions where I can, plus helpful tips and tricks for success. Read on for this info as well as the recipe. If you’d like to skip straight to the recipe, use the jump to recipe button at the top of the post.
You may also be interested in my fig jam and my panna cotta with bourbon poached figs recipes.
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Puff pastry fig tart recipe
Figs are just barely sweet, but when they are overly ripe can be jammy and have hints of honey. They lend themselves to both sweet and savory recipes.
Store-bought puff pastry means making these fig tarts is a breeze. This is the perfect early fall dessert or treat when you want something flaky, buttery and delicious, but you don’t want to spend loads of time in the kitchen.
I wanted to make a simple dessert, nothing too complicated or time-consuming. I looked through the fridge to see what I had on hand to make this come together; it wasn’t much.
Luckily, I had puff pastry stashed in the freezer and I had cream cheese. I figured if I sweetened it up the cream cheese just a touch, the finished product would be similar to a fig danish.
What you need to know
If you’ve never had a fresh fig before, don’t expect them to taste like a certain cookie you may be familiar with. They taste nothing at all like a newton.
This recipe for fig puff pastry tarts is unbelievable easy, but there are a few helpful tips and tricks that you need to know before we start.
One of the most important tips is to keep the puff pastry as cold as you can. When puff pastry gets too warm, it becomes harder to work with. It will feel a bit “slack”, it will get sticky, and not as easy to cut and score. Keep it refrigerated until you are ready to use it.
You can make as many, or as few, of these fig tarts as needed. I get 6 good-sized tarts out of one sheet of pastry. You can easily get 9 slightly smaller tarts out of one sheet, which is a great option if you want a 3 or 4 bite dessert. Or, you can use a round cookie cutter to make round tarts.
Puff pastry desserts are the way to go when you need an impressive dessert, but you don’t have much time to get it done. During the summer months, make these peach puff pastry tarts for a sweet, seasonal treat.
Ingredients
Figs are only available for a short time, but the beauty of this fig tart recipe is that whatever you have in the fridge can become a fruit tart with puff pastry.
- Puff pastry – I used Pepperidge Farm brand because it is the most widely available.
- Substitutions: My preferred brand is DuFour Pastry Kitchen puff pastry. It’s what we use in restaurant kitchens and it is very good. The notable difference between the two is Pepperidge Farm has oil in the dough and DuFour is 100% butter.
- Figs – Figs are sliced, then tossed with lemon, honey and vanilla bean paste.
- Cream cheese – Softened cream cheese is sweetened with a bit of powdered sugar, then I’ve added a teaspoon of vanilla.
How to make fig tarts
Here’s a quick summary of how to make fig puff pastry tarts. Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full recipe.
Before you pull the puff pastry out of the fridge, make the sweetened cream cheese for the base of the tart, then slice the figs and toss with lemon juice, honey, and vanilla. This won’t take long, but you don’t want the puff pastry sitting out and getting too warm while you’re doing this. The pastry needs to stay cold, so it’s best to do this first.
- Prep – Preheat oven to 400°F // 200°C. Remove the puff pastry from the fridge and unfold it. Use a rolling pin to gently roll over the pastry. We’re not trying to make it thinner, we want to even out the creases in the dough and make it more level. Then, cut the piece of puff pastry into 6 even pieces. Use a sharp paring knife to score a border along the edges to give yourself a guide. Finally, use a fork to dock the middle of the puff pastry.
- Add the sweetened cream cheese to the base of the pastry, staying within the border you made. I like about 1/8″ thick layer.
- Shingle the fig slices on top of the cream cheese, gently pressing them into place. Brush the edges with an egg wash.
- Bake until the edges are golden and puffed, 16 – 18 minutes.
The key with puff pastry is a hot oven. If you haven’t worked with puff pastry before, you will be delighted at how easy this is to tackle. The best part of this whole thing is that it looks like you spent hours toiling away like Cinderella when in fact, it was more like 20 minutes.
Fig tart recipe FAQ’s
Because these fig tarts have cream cheese, it is best to store them in the refrigerator, wrapped tightly, for up to 3 days.
They are best on the day they are made. They will be fine the next day, but by day 3, they won’t be quite as good.
I would not recommend freezing the fig tarts. The texture of the cream cheese and the fruit will not hold up, and will be unpleasant to eat.
Variations and substitutions
- Homemade dough – If you’d like to make your pastry from scratch, try this puff pastry recipe.
- Walnuts – Add a sprinkling of chopped walnuts to the tops of the fig puff pastry tarts for a little crunch.
Helpful tools and equipment
- Heavy duty sheet pans that hold up to high temps without warping.
- Parchment paper sheets are MUCH easier to use than tearing pieces off of a roll.
- Offset spatula – I find this tool makes it easier to spread the cream cheese, plus I use this all the time for spreading icing on cookies, cupcakes, cakes, etc.
- Pastry brush – for brushing on jam in this recipe, egg washes, melted butter, cream glazes, etc.
- Round cutters – If you prefer to make smaller, round tarts, these cutters are used to make perfect circles. I’ve had my set for over a dozen years. Useful for everything from cookies to biscuits.
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Fig Puff Pastry Tarts
Ingredients
Fig Tarts
- 1 sheet puff pastry cool, thawed
- 1 egg beaten with a tbsp. of water, for egg wash
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar *icing sugar for my UK friends / 30g
- 6 ounces cream cheese room temperature / 170g
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 1 pint figs roughly 8 – 10 figs
- 1 tbsp. honey
- 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Icing
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar 40g
- 2 tsp. milk or cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.Make egg wash by whisking egg with 1 tablespoon of water, then set aside.
- Combine room temperature cream cheese with ¼ cup powdered sugar and one tsp. vanilla in a small mixing bowl. Whisk to thoroughly combine until it is smooth and uniform. Set aside.
- Slice figs in half, then slice each half into thirds. (You should have 6 small slices for each fig.) Place sliced figs in a medium bowl with remaining vanilla, honey and lemon juice. Toss to combine, then set aside.
- Remove puff pastry from fridge. It will be folded in thirds. Gently open it up, like a brochure, on a clean kitchen towel or lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, lightly roll over the dough, just to even it out and level the creases a bit.
- Using a sharp Chef's knife or a pizza cutter, cut the sheet of dough into 6 equal pieces. Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.Then score a border along the edges with a paring knife. Use a fork to dock the middle of the puff pastry. (Make small holes in the dough)
- Spread about 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture in the middle of each piece of puff pastry. (I use an offset spatula for this.)
- Then place 8 – 9 slices of fig on top of the cream cheese mixture and lightly press them down to secure in place.Brush edges of puff pastry with egg wash.
- Bake for 16 – 18 minutes, or until puffed and golden. Let them cool on the sheet pan.
- While tarts are cooling, whisk together the powdered sugar and milk/cream for the glaze. When tarts have cooled, drizzle icing over the tarts and serve. Store leftover tarts in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
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Originally published in 2016, most recent update 9/3/24.
I just harvested a ton of figs… I am definitely going to make these beauties!
Such a classy recipe! Gorgeous!
Looks great! Beautiful shot too.
My husband loved these. I’m making a second batch.
Thanks so much, Dani! I’m so happy to hear that they were a success 🙂
Store-bought puff is such a time saver, and I love the cheesecake-y filling you’ve paired with it and the figs!
Thank you!! 🙂
Such a fun recipe and perfect exactly right now where I live!
Thanks so much, Beth!