Fig tart with goat cheese and onion
This savory fig and goat cheese tart uses store-bought puff pastry for a quick and easy treat. Ready from start to finish in about an hour, these tarts are flaky, full of flavor, and perfect for any occasion.
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 easy fig tart recipe and my peach puff pastry tarts recipes. For ease of browsing, you can find all of my pie and tart recipes in one place.
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Fig and goat cheese tart
This flaky fig puff pastry tart would be perfect for a dinner party or a holiday. They feel special, like you’ve put in a great deal of work, when if fact, you have not. But, let people think you worked all day on this.
Because figs are not overly sweet, they lend themselves equally well to both sweet and savoury recipes.
The season for black mission or brown turkey figs is relatively short – late August through October. We are in peak fig season right now, so it’s the perfect time to make all of the fig recipes you love.
What you need to know
This fresh fig tart recipe 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 it gets too warm, the pastry becomes harder to work with. It will feel a bit “slack”, it will get sticky, and it won’t be 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 pieces out of one sheet of pastry. You can easily get 9 slightly smaller tarts out of one sheet, or if you want to make a two-bite appetizer, you can cut them even smaller – 12 pieces makes a perfect size. Another option is to use a circle cookie cutter to make round tarts.
Ingredients
- 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 into rounds, then shingled on top. Black Mission or Brown Turkey figs are most common where I live.
- Goat cheese – Softened goat cheese is the creamy base. It is flavored with a bit of honey, rosemary, salt & pepper.
- Red onion – Cooked down until very soft and lightly caramelized, then I add a splash of balsamic vinegar.
How to make
Here’s a quick summary of how to make this caramelised onion, fig, and goat cheese tart. Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full recipe.
- Prep – Preheat oven to 400°F // 200°C. Remove the puff pastry from the fridge and unfold it. Gently pat the pastry flat. 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 goat cheese mixture to the base of the pastry, staying within the border you made, then scatter the cooked red onions on top.
- Shingle the fig slices on top of the goat cheese, then brush the edges with the egg wash.
- Bake until the edges are golden and puffed, about 18 minutes.
Before you pull the puff pastry out of the fridge, make the goat cheese mixture for the base of the tart, and cook the red onions. It won’t take a long time, but you don’t want the dough 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.
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 half an hour of very light effort.
Savory fig tart FAQ’s
Because these fig tarts have cheese, it is best to store them in the refrigerator, wrapped tightly, for up to 4 days.
I would not recommend freezing the fig tarts. The texture of the goat cheese and the fruit will not hold up when they are thawed.
They are best on the day they are made. They will be fine the next day, but by day 3 or 4, they won’t be quite as good as day one.
Variations and substitutions
- Mascarpone – Swap out the goat cheese for a very mild, almost sweet cheese. It is very similar to cream cheese.
- Blue cheese – If you love bleu cheese, consider swapping out the goat cheese for crumbles of a creamy gorgonzola.
- Ricotta – This cheese a great option if you don’t love goat cheese, but still want something creamy and mild.
There are no soggy bottoms here! These fig pastries are crispy enough to stand up on their own.
This is the knife I own and use every day. I've had this knife since my culinary school days, about 20 years ago.
This Chef's knife is a workhorse - it is nicely balanced, feels good in your hand and will not let you down. It's great for everyday use and for every level of cook.
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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Savory fig tarts with goat cheese
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 small/medium red onion finely sliced into half moons
- 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
- 6 ounces goat cheese / 170g room temperature
- 2 tbsp. honey divided
- 2 tsp. fresh rosemary divided
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- 1 sheet puff pastry thawed, cold
- 1 egg beaten with a tbsp. of water for egg wash
- 1 pint figs // roughly 8 figs thinly sliced into rounds
- 2 tbsp. pistachios chopped
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.
- In a small sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium heat, then add sliced red onion to the pan. Stir occasionally, and cook over medium – medium/low heat for about 20 minutes until onions are softened and cooked down. Add balsamic vinegar and stir to combine. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool.
- Combine room temperature goat cheese with 1 tbsp. honey, 1 tsp. chopped rosemary, salt, and pepper in a small mixing bowl. Mix to thoroughly combine until it is smooth and uniform. 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 your fingers, gently press the creases to level it out a bit. Then, 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.
- 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 goat cheese mixture in the middle of each piece of puff pastry. (I use an offset spatula for this.)
- Scatter the red onions evenly over all 6 pieces, then shingle 4 slices of fig on top for each tart.Brush edges of puff pastry with egg wash.
- Bake for 18 minutes, or until puffed and golden. Let them cool on the sheet pan.While tarts are cooling, drizzle them with the remaining honey, then sprinkle the chopped pistachios and remaining rosemary on top.
Notes
Nutrition
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