Fig and Almond Tart

Our friend Joyce posted the recipe from Foodnetwork for a fig almond tart.

She had made it using a pie crust and cream cheese. We thought we could make it a little more raw. We went to Living Kitchen in Raleigh and tried the Tomatico Tart. It has a cashew based mascarpone cheese. We found a recipe for the cashew mascarpone cheese from nouveauraw.com. We only made half the recipe below.
We made the entire almond paste recipe from Foodnetwork. We did peel the raw almonds and soak them prior to grinding them. Once made, we divided the almond paste into 8th, wrapping each 8th in parchment paper, then plastic wrap to freeze. The frozen pieces did not have the margarine added. We will add it once we need it.

Ingredients for Crust:

1 1/2 cups crispie almonds (soaked and dehydrated almonds)
1 cup dates (~12 medjool dates, pitted), soaked 2 hours
1/4 tsp salt
2 TBS maple syrup
1/2 cup cacao powder
1 tsp almond extract
4 TBS date soaking water

Directions: Place the dates and the almonds in the food processor and process until crumbly. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until well mixed. Press into a tart pan lined with parchment paper.

Ingredients for filling:
3.5 oz almond paste (see recipe below)
1/3 cup cashew mascarpone cheese (the recipe is below)
1 tsp vanilla
2 TBS honey (we omitted too sweet)
Directions: add the above ingredients to a food processor and process until smooth
Spread over crust

Ingredients:
6-12 figs (enough to layer sliced over the entire tart)
1/4 cup apricot jam
Directions: Layer sliced figs and top with apricot jam. Fold over edges of crust.

Almond paste from Foodnetwork.com

Ingredients
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons water
3 cups plus 3 tablespoons blanched, whole, almonds
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon Kirsch or simple syrup, optional
Scant 1/4 cup butter (due to food allergies we used earth balance soy free margarine)

Directions
Place the sugar, honey and water in a saucepan and bring to a strong boil. 

Place the almonds in the food processor and grind until coarse. 

Remove the boiling sugar from the heat and pour over the coarse almonds. 

Blend until smooth. 

This may take 10 minutes or more, depending on the strength of the food processor. 

Remember, food processors are not usually strong enough to yield the same consistency as the almond paste that you can buy. 

If your mixture is too thick and the food processor is straining, you can add a little Kirsch or simple syrup to the processor. 

Add the liquid slowly and stop when the processor is moving more freely. 

The quality of almond paste is determined by how smooth the consistency is.
Wrap the almond paste in plastic wrap and allow it to cool. When you are ready to use it, knead in the butter. The butter makes it smooth and not so sticky.
Recipe courtesy of Jacques Torres Chocolate, MrChocolate

Cashew Mascarpone Cheese
Ingredients:

yields 3 cups

• 2 cups cashews, soaked 2+ hours
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup + 1 tsp raw light agave nectar or maple syrup
• 1 tsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp light chickpea miso
• ½ tsp Himalayan pink salt
• 1 tsp raw mesquite powder (we used maca because it is what we have)
• 1 tsp probiotics (7 capsules emptied)

Preparation:

1. In a high-speed blender combine the cashews, water, lemon juice, agave, nutritional yeast, miso, salt, mesquite powder and probotics. Blend until completely smooth.
   • This may take 3-5 minutes.  It depends on the blender you use.
   • You want to make sure that you don’t feel any grit from the cashews.  We are aiming for a smooth and wonderful mouth feel!
2. Pour the mixture in a glass bowl and allow it to sit with a towel covering it,  in a warm place for 14 – 16 hours to culture.
3. When finished culturing transfer to an airtight glass container  and refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.
4. This should keep for at least 5 days.
5. This cheese is great on breads, crackers, as a veggie dip, as a spread on sandwiches, or it can be used as the cream base in cheesecakes and ice creams!