Here is a pudding I haven’t made but really want to make and know it will be delicious. We shall be in Madeira next week in time to catch the late, sweet figs we buy from the lady whose stall we pass on our way for coffee at the Café do Teatro in Funchal. One year we brought back to England figs picked on a day trip to Porto Santo, but that’s another story.

Our home figs are beginning to ripen. I shared my first one with the birds but more are nearly ready and I am watching them carefully.

Based on Rick Stein’s Dalmatian Fresh Fig Tart (from Rick Stein’s Venice to Istanbul, recently published by BBC Books), I have to stick to the way of making pastry that works best for me.

-Susan

For the pastry:

170g plain flour
Pinch salt
100g unsalted butter
50g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
50ml double cream

For the filling:

500g marscapone cheese
6tbsp clear honey
6-9 figs, stems trimmed and cut in half

Make the pastry in a large bowl by lightly mixing the butter into the flour and salt . Add the sugar and mix a little more. Blend the egg yolk with the cream and add enough to form a dough. Wrap the pastry in cling film and store it in the fridge for at least an hour.

Have ready a 26 cm loose-bottomed flan tin. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the pastry to fit the tin. Patch up any tears and, using a sharp knife, trim the edges. Return the pastry to the fridge (RS says the ‘freezer’) for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line the pastry with baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven, take out the paper and beans and then cook for a further three minutes before taking out of the oven again.

Lower the heat of the oven to 160°C.

Soften the marscapone with the honey in a small saucepan over a low heat. Pour into the pastry case and lay the figs on top. Bake for 30 minutes or until the edges of the tart just start to turn brown.

Remove from the tin and serve at room temerature.