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I have the simplest dessert for us today!
You guys, say hello to my favorite 5-ingredients maple fig tarte tatin. Oh my gosh, this recipe is too good for words. I know that sounds so odd, but I love sweet figs, and today I really, really, want to make you guys all love figs too.
Can everyone who loves figs please raise their hand. I know I cannot see you guys, but man I hope I got a lot of hands in the air. If you don’t have your hand in the air, I’m going to try to convince you to give figs a try, because they really are the best.
Plus, how could anything with butter, maple, and puff pastry not be just delicious…you know?
Like a lot of my summer recipes, I made this tarte tatin on whim a few weeks ago. I was sent three giant boxes of fresh figs from California Figs and while I love, love, love just snacking on figs, I knew I needed to create a recipe featuring their sweet goodness. I was torn on whether to do a sweet or savory recipe, but in the end I had a craving for something sweet, so I followed my instincts and made this maple fig tarte tatin. I am SO glad I did because it turned out to be sweet, buttery and basically all kinds of perfection.
If you’re new to figs, they are sweet in taste, chewy, and have a little texture to them. They’re in season from now through early fall…meaning get them while you can, because they are here one minute and gone the next. Typically figs are used in a lot of middle eastern and Italian cooking, and in both sweet and savory ways.
I’ve made a few savory fig recipes…hello to this pesto pizza, this fig and tomato tart, this grilled pizza, and this sweet fig glazed pork, but I’ve never done a sweet recipe with figs.
ps. I also have a fig recipe in my upcoming cookbook…it’s my absolute favorite savory fig recipe yet.
When I was deciding on just what to make with my figs, I knew I wanted to keep the recipe simple, and I knew I really wanted the flavors from the figs to shine. In my head I was envisioning something sweet, buttery, and flakey.
Enter the french classic, tarte tatin.
A tarte tatin is a french dessert that typically consist of butter, fruit, and puff pastry. It’s made in a cast iron skillet, baked upside down, and then flipped upside and served warm with ice cream. They can really be made with any kind of fruit, but I think figs are totally the way to go.
Here’s how this dessert works.
Start out by melting together the butter and maple in a skillet. Bring it to boil until the maple thickens a bit. Then add the vanilla and sliced figs. Lay a sheet of puff pasty over top of the figs, bake and DONE. This is honestly one of the easiest desserts to make.
The maple thickens into a buttery caramel like sauce that glazes the figs. That along with the buttery puff pastry and hints of vanilla.
Ahh, it’s just so gooooood.
Serve this warm with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream…can you say gimme?!
So have I convinced you guys yet?
I really, really hope so because this is one of those recipes that’s just perfection in every which way. It’s easy, five ingredients, uses up seasonal produce, and is just beyond delicious.
Everyone I’ve served this to was in awe of how amazingly good it was…and that was before I added any ice cream! Just trust me on this and please give it a try! I think your Tuesday could use something sweet, and this is obviously it!
Maple Fig Tarte Tatin
Servings: 6 servings
Calories Per Serving: 533 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons salted butter
- 1/2 cup real maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 16 fresh figs, halved
- 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
- fresh thyme and blueberries, for topping
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.2. Melt together the butter and maple in a 10-inch oven safe skillet. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium. Boil for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Arrange the figs, cut side down in the skillet, overlapping them slightly if needed. 3. Place the pastry over the figs and press down gently to secure, tucking the sides of the pastry under the figs as best you can. Using a sharp knife, make 3 small cuts in the center of the pastry. Place the skillet on a baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the pastry is a dark golden brown. When the tarte tatin is done baking, remove it from the oven. Allow to rest in the pan for 2 minutes and then place a serving plate over the hot skillet. Carefully invert the skillet and allow the tarte tatin to fall out onto the plate. 4. Garnish with thyme and berries. Serve warm with a vanilla ice cream. YUMMMM!
butter (use salted!) + maple + vanilla + figs + puff pastry = heaven…FOR REAL!
This post was originally published on July 11, 2017
This is wonderful! So good I’m making it again! My pan is 12”, I use the same measurements. My figs are small so I cut and add til the pan is filled up. Vanilla bean ice cream is waiting!
Hey Judi! Wow thank you so so much! So glad you are loving this tarte! And this definitely pairs perfectly with vanilla ice cream! Hope you have an amazing week! 🙂 xT
Since figs come in different sizes (those from my tree tend to be small) so this recipe would benefit from listing a weight or volume, rather than a number of figs. Until then I’ll have to wing it.
Hi Bill,
I feel like this recipe is very forgiving in that you can use more or less figs depending on the size of them, as long as they cover the bottom of your skillet, you are good to go! I hope you love this recipe!
Yummy. Came out a bit over-moist, so I’ll need to address that when I make it again (which I’ll definitely do.)
Hi Bill! So glad you enjoyed this tarte! xT
This recipe is totally worth making. In my case, a half cup of maple syrup was way too much. Along with the juice from the figs, the tatin had WAY too much liquid to have been flipped over. It would’ve been a disaster. So we just ate it with the pastry on top.
I made it again today and used about a third less syrup, one tablespoon less butter and really boiled it in the pan. So it came out much better and it was able to be flipped out of the pan.
Thank you for helping people learn about tart tatin!
Hey Rhea,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe and sharing your notes on what worked best for you:) So glad it was enjoyed! xT
Unless I am missing it, it doesn’t say what to actually do with the butter and the maple once you combine them. Do you pour it over the figs once they’re in the pan? Or pour it in the pan and put the figs on top of it? Thanks.
Hi Adam,
You are adding everything to that skillet:) I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
I only have a 12 inch skillet. Will 1 sheet of pastry be enough? Also, how much should I increase the caramel ingredients? Thanks.
Hi there! That should be fine! I would just keep the caramel ingredients the same! xT
I made this last night! I had a ton of figs ripen all at once from my fig tree and I just knew you would have a yummy recipe to use them up. This was SOOOO easy and so delicious. Definitely a keeper recipe. Thank you so much!
Hey Jessica,
I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, I truly appreciate you giving it a try!!? xTieghan
Made this today and it’s super good! I am an idiot who used unsalted butter (i planned to add salt rather than buy more butter but forgot lol) so it was a tad too sweet, but delicious. I put some flaky salt on top and it worked out but next time I will def … follow directions and use the right butter (or remember to add salt).
Thank you so much Dragana! xTieghan
Crazy good, delicious, sweet mapley flavor and fresh figs right off our own trees I cannot say enough about this tarte. One of the best things I ever ate hands down!
Love to hear that!! Thank you so much for trying this Shirley!! xTieghan
Hello – Im new to your site and love your recipes. Question on this one. I know you used maple syrup with the butter, but what do you think if I did brown sugar and butter? Would I get the same results? Im only asking because Im wondering if it would be less sweet with he brown sugar but get same results of the glaze? Thank you!
Hey Merlinda,
I think that would be totally fine to do. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan