This rustic beauty came about by accident. I had intended to make a cherry pie, but my plans for obtaining cherries fell through. So I ended up with some pie dough and nothing else. I went to the store to see what fruit was available and found some Turkish figs. “This could definitely work,” I thought. Then I thought of a creamy smear of mascarpone underneath, and oh! What if I added in some goat cheese, too?
So I dumped a container each of goat cheese and mascarpone cheese into bowl with some honey and mixed them together. Then I got to thinking, “What about some cardamom in here?” So in it went.
I rolled out my pie dough and spread the cheese mixture over it. I only ended up using half of it, but it made a great dip for crackers and fruit so that was fine. I arranged the quartered figs over the spread and then had another thought. “You know what goes great with cardamom? Coconut!” So I dug out some sweetened coconut flakes from the pantry to sprinkle over the top. A brush of cold water and sprinkling of turbinado sugar later, and my masterpiece was ready to bake.
I threw a lot of ingredients into here, but they ended up blending perfectly. The spread sort of merged with the flaky crust to make a creamy base for the figs; and the coconut came out perfectly toasted. Bonus? My husband was out of town and I got to eat the whole thing myself! This recipe may have been an accident, but I will definitely be making it again.
Fig, Mascarpone, and Goat Cheese Galette with Coconut
A Well Dined Original
1 piecrust of your choosing (I used this recipe)
2 cartons of figs, stemmed and quartered
1/2 small container of goat cheese
1/2 small container of mascarpone
2 or so tbsp of honey (to taste)
2 or so pinches of cardamom (to taste)
2 or so tbsp of sweet coconut flakes
coarse sugar
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Roll out the piecrust into a large circle. Combine the goat cheese, mascarpone, honey, and cardamom. Spread evenly over the piecrust leaving a 1 inch border. Arrange the figs over the spread, sprinkle with coconut.
Fold the edges of the crust up over the filling, pleating as needed, leaving the center open. Brush the edges of the dough with a wash of your choosing (egg, milk, cold water) and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 30 min, or until the crust is golden brown.