I remember the torrid July in southern Bulgaria. It wasn’t one of my best days, but when the gentleman whose family restaurant we were having lunch at brought me the cup of fig ice cream, telling me it was their recipe for generations, I fell in love.

About a year and a half ago, on a hot day in Brasov this time around, I tried to recreate the dessert. And it worked!

Here’s the recipe.

You’ll need—

350ml whipping cream

20g sugar

100ml condensed milk

10 medium figs (200-215g)

Mix the sugar and the whipping cream.

Slowly add the condensed milk. Then, add the pieces of fresh figs.

Transfer the ’result’ into a large dish; freeze it overnight.

I haven’t been able to get to Sviniṭa this year to get figs. I was glad, though, that the figs came to Braşov. It was short-lived, however. It rained over them on the terrace and I wasn’t able to process them, so Marcel saved precisely 

350g figs

I also needed—

90ml water

175g sugar

the juice from half a lemon

How to make the preserves?

Boil the water and the sugar in a pan, on low heat, until the sugar dissolves.

Meanwhile, wash the figs and cut their tails. Add them whole in the already hot liquid.

After 20 minutes, squeeze the lemon half, all the while removing the foam from the mix as often as possible. 

Boil the preserves for 20 minutes more. Turn the heat off. Let the preserves cool a bit and pour it into a 300g jar. It’s all I got.

I was still grateful for my first fig preserves and its deliciousness! ♥

CRUST

150g flour

70g butter (melted and cooled)

1 egg yolk

1 vanilla sugar sachet

1 tbsp vinegar

2 tbsp water

a bit of salt

FILLING

250g mascarpone

50g whipping cream

10g sugar

40ml condensed milk

+butter and flour -> your baking pan

+14-15 fresh figs

Well, I am still baking classically, using many types of ingredients, especially as, at the end of August (summer), we drove to Sviniţa to buy fresh figs. The largest fig farm in Romania is located there. They may be small but they’re so flavourful!

You can bake the crust using the recipe found here.

I wished to prepare a creamy filling. In my opinion, mascarpone and figs go well together.

If you love whipped cream more, remove the condensed milk from the recipe, replacing it with some extra 100g of whipping cream. Use 35g of sugar for the entire amount of whipping cream.

For the initial filling, add the whipped cream to the mixed mascarpone and then the condensed milk.

Pour the filling over the crust after you let the crust cool a bit.

Place the washed figs cut in half over the tart. Let it sit in the fridge.

I served each slice cold, in a summer mood! ☼