Chocolate tart with fig jam and almonds mousse

• 90 minutes to prepare • 35 minutes to cook • Serves 12

In praise of figs

 

I discovered an almonds cream in my supermarket last week and knew it needed to be in the next dessert I made.
Few months ago, I created a gluttonous cream made of pistachios and I definitely wanted to try the almond version of it!
This Crostata is insanely good. Seriously. Go find some almonds cream and make it!

The crust is a classic piecrust, my go to recipe that is buttery, flakey, and perfect. It is great for any sweet pie and it comes from Knam's book. The almond mixture that goes on top of the piecrust is creamy, flavorful, and accompanies the fig jam perfectly. Thinly chopped almonds and orange chocolate add a gooey finish.
This desserts goes great with some dark coffee, but, I recommend taking a few bites alone to fully appreciate the flakey dough and almond and figs...

Here are ingredients for a 12-serving recipe (24-cm diameter baking pan):

 

For the pastry

200 g flour 00
125 g sugar
125 g butter
40 g cocoa powder
1 egg
1/2 sachet vanilla baking powder
salt

For the stuffing

350 g figs jam
30 g dark chocolate


For the almonds mousse

200 g pistachio cream
2.5 g gelatine sheets
200 ml fresh cream
40 g sugar
20 ml Cointreau liquor

1. Start preparing the pastry: cut the butter into cubes and place it in a bowl. Add sugar, a pinch of salt and knead it quickly
2. Stir in the egg, then mix again. Finally add flour, cocoa powder and vanilla baking powder, all sifted. Knead it again
3. Form a ball, wrap it with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour
4. When we are close to the the 1-hour resting time of the pastry, preheat oven to 180°C
5. Move on to the filling preparation: chop the dark chocolate
6. Grease and dust the baking pan with cocoa powder, then cover bottom and sides with half of the pastry cut into a flattened disc-shape, about 5 mm thick
7. Pour the figs jam into the pastry pan and level well. Sprinkle the dark chocolate on top
8. Bake at 180°C for 35 minutes. Then, let it cool down
9. Meanwhile, prepare the almonds mousse: pour 1/2 cup of water in a medium bowl and dunk the gelatine sheets in it. Let them soften about 5 minutes
10. Drain the gelatine sheets and place them in a small pan with Cointreau liquor.  Melt them over low heat and keep aside
11. Pour the fresh cream into a bowl. Use a whisk to whip the cream with wide strokes and continue to whip until soft peaks form
12. In another bowl, place the melted gelatine and the almonds cream. Add the whipped cream and stir gently with a spoon to mix well
13. When the mousse is ready, pour the almonds mousse over the jam layer and level it. Place the tin back in the fridge to rest for at least 3 hours

Nutrition Facts are detailed in the table below. Data is provided per serving.