Method

Thyme Shortcrust Pastry

Place the flour, icing sugar, salt and butter into a food processor and pulse together until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add the thyme and egg yolks while the motor is running. Slowly add the water until the dough comes together.

Remove the dough from the food processor and press the pastry into a flat disk. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Once rested, remove the pastry disk from the fridge. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured sheet of baking paper. Roll until it is large enough to cover the bottom and sides of 22 cm loose-bottomed tart tin. Flip the pastry over the tin to line. Trim the edge about 3 mm from the top of the tart tin to allow for shrinkage. Top the pastry with a sheet of baking paper and ceramic baking beans* and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5 minutes.

Vanilla Frangipane

Mix the butter and castor sugar in a food processor. Add the egg while the motor is still running and then add the ground almonds and vanilla paste and blend well.

Figs

Cut the figs in half. Mix the honey and vanilla paste and drizzle half of the honey mixture over the figs. Reserve the rest for serving.

Fill the cooked tart shell with the frangipane mixture and top with the vanilla-honey figs.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until the filling is just firm.

Thyme Praline

Melt the castor sugar in a saucepan, stirring all the time and allowing it to caramelise. It needs to reach a hard crack stage*. Add the thyme, mix together and pour the mixture out onto a sheet of baking paper. Allow it to cool and set. Break the praline into a food processor and blend until it resembles rough crumbs.

To serve

Sprinkle with a dusting of icing sugar, the crumbled praline and drizzle with the remaining vanilla honey.

*Bakers Bites

Blind Baking is a term used to describe pre-baking a pastry shell without the filling. This method is often used for delicate fillings that may cook more quickly than the pastry base might. Use regular dry pulses or rice if you don’t have ceramic baking beans to blind bake pastry. If using rice, ensure that none of the grains end up in the pastry.

Hard Crack Stage is a term used when cooking with sugar. If you don’t have a sugar thermometer you can check the readiness of your cooked caramel by dropping a blob into a bowl of ice cold water. If the sugar has reached hard crack stage it will form threads that will snap easily.