Smoked Honey Fig Tart...Smoked Honey Fig Tart with Goat Cheese Mousse

An exquisite harmony of warm, smoked-honey caramelized figs, velvety whipped white chocolate chèvre mousse, and a delicate pine nut sablé pastry.

Ingredients

Cooking Instructions

1. 01

   For the sablé pastry, pulse flour, confectioners' sugar, a pinch of salt, and cold butter in a food processor until it resembles wet sand. Add the egg yolk and pulse just until a cohesive dough forms. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

2. 02

   Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Roll out the chilled dough to 3mm thickness, press into four 10cm tartlet molds, and prick the bottoms with a fork. Blind bake with pie weights for 10 minutes, remove weights, and bake for another 5 minutes until beautifully golden. Cool completely.

3. 03

   To make the mousse, beat the fresh goat cheese and vanilla bean paste until smooth and aerated. Gently stream in the melted white chocolate while beating, then delicately fold in the whipped heavy cream. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle and refrigerate.

4. 04

   For the roasted figs, increase oven temperature to 190°C (375°F). Toss the halved figs with smoked honey, lemon juice, and the bruised rosemary sprig in a baking dish. Roast for 10-12 minutes until the figs are tender and the honey is bubbling and caramelized. Discard the rosemary and let cool slightly.

5. 05

   For the pine nut praline, melt granulated sugar with 30ml water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook without stirring until it turns a deep amber caramel. Stir in the toasted pine nuts, immediately pour onto a silicone mat, and let cool. Once hardened, chop finely into a crunchy praline texture.

6. 06

   Assemble the dessert: Pipe a generous, smooth dome of the chèvre mousse into the base of each cooled sablé shell. Arrange 4 warm roasted fig halves gracefully on top of the mousse. Drizzle with the warm, infused smoked-honey pan juices and scatter with the pine nut praline and micro-rosemary leaves before serving.