Lime & Cardamom Tart With Toffee Figs

With National Fig Week just around the corner we thought we share one of our favourite fig desert recipes.

Ingredients:

• 1 quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (see sweet shortcrust variation with related recipe)
• 1 tablespoon cardamom seeds
• 5 eggs, lightly whisked
• 300ml thin cream
• 175g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
• 4 fresh figs, cut in half
• 60g (1/4 cup) caster sugar, extra
•  125ml (1/2 cup) fresh lime juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated lime rind

Instructions:

1) To make the filling, place the lime juice, lime rind and cardamom seeds in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until just heated through. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool. Whisk eggs, cream, sugar and lime mixture together in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 2 hours to infuse.

2) Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200°C. Roll out pastry to a 3mm-thick disc. Line a round 23cm (base measurement) fluted tart tin, with removable base, with pastry and trim any excess. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

3) Cover pastry base with baking paper and fill with rice or dried beans. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove paper and rice or beans. Bake for a further 8 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and reduce temperature to 160°C.

4) Strain lime mixture through a fine sieve into a jug. Pour mixture into cooked pastry case. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until just set. Remove from oven and set aside to cool completely. Place in the fridge for 1 hour to chill.

5) Arrange fig halves over tart. Place extra sugar in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves and toffee is golden. Remove from heat and set aside for 1 minute or until the bubbles subside. Drizzle toffee over figs. Set aside for 5 minutes or until toffee sets.

*Recipe thanks to Taste.