They say necessity is the mother of invention. I find that’s absolutely true when it comes to my cooking. When I was pregnant and couldn’t have cream cheese, I created a fruit tart made with greek yogurt. Now that Corban can’t eat dairy, I needed a new way to feed my tart fix. I decided that goat cheese (which I can have since goat’s milk doesn’t seem to bother him) was similar enough to cream cheese that I could possibly do kind of a cheesecake filling with it.
Since the filling was such an experiment, I decided to do a simple graham cracker crust, substituting coconut oil for butter to keep it dairy free.
The fruit on top? Well that was obvious. What fruit pairs better with goat cheese then figs? Since I am so obsessed with figs, you can imagine my insane reaction when I found 24 figs for $6 at Costco this week. There my have been dancing.
We now have figs coming out our ears! Okay not literally, that would be weird, even for me. But I am definitely getting my fill. I’ve had them on salads and pancakes, stuffed with cheese, and on top of this beautiful tart.
While there is a double cook time (pre-baking the crust) this recipe really is incredibly simple, and I can see various fruits being equally appealing on top.
But if you can get figs, try it. This is so insanely good, that we have actually brought it in a tupperware when going out for dinner because we knew that it’s better than any dessert that would be on the menu. We didn’t even get dirty looks, I may start a mental list of restaurants we can bring our own dessert to!
Have you ever brought your own food to a restaurant or am I the only crazy one? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Goat Cheese and Fig Tart Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat graham cracker crumbs
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 8 oz goat cheese (chevre)
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup honey, divided
- 10 figs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix together graham cracker crumbs, coconut oil, salt and cinnamon. Press the crumbs into the bottom and slightly up the sides of an 8 inch tart pan.
- Bake the crust for 7-10 minutes.
- While crust is cooking, put the goat cheese, egg, egg yolk, vanilla, and 1 TBS of the honey in a bowl. Use a hand mixer or immersion blender to completely combine ingredients until you get a smooth creamy filling.
- Remove crust from oven and pour the filling into it (you may need a spatula to scrape it from the bowl).
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until the filling has set and crust is golden brown.
- Cool completely and refrigerate at least one hour, until ready to serve.
- Slice each fig into six wedges and arrange on the tart. Drizzle with the remaining 3 TBS of honey.
Notes
Approximate cost/serving: This came out to about $1.10 a slice for us. These are somewhat small slices but the goat cheese is quite rich so we find 1/8 of the tart satisfying.
Gluten Free:Â I have not tried this because I need to order gluten free graham crackers, but I am certain that they would work for the crust.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 310Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 47mgSodium: 186mgCarbohydrates: 32gFiber: 4gSugar: 16gProtein: 9g
Nutrition information is an estimate only.
I have never tried figs but this recipe makes me want to. Thanks Diana.
I like fig, but I have never tried cooking anything with fig! Your tart looks gret! Thanks for the recipe
You’re welcome Gill, thanks for stopping by and commenting!