Fig and cheddar biscuits

This dish is inspired by a course Gareth Whitton had at Marque restaurant in Sydney many, many years ago when Pasi Petanen was still at the helm. It was a beautiful mushroom sablé with orange and coffee and it was truly terrific, he says. Although super simple, it made him reconsider the way we place textures in dishes - you may too!

• serves

  8

• prep

  1 hour

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Series. Cooking. Rated PG.

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The Cook Up with Adam Liaw

series • CookingPG

Ingredients

• 150 g plain flour
• 1 g baking powder
• 110 g cold butter, diced
• 2 g salt
• 70 g grated cheddar cheese, plus extra to serve

For the custard

• 250 g milk
• 2 g salt
• 50 g (2) yolks
• 20 g cornflour
• 100 g cheddar cheese, coarsely grated

For the fig jam

• 250 g figs, quartered
• 140 g white sugar, divided
• 1 g pectin jaune (yellow pectin)
• 3 g citric acid

Resting time: 2 hours

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 150˚C fan-forced. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the plain flour, baking powder, butter, salt and 70 g grated cheddar cheese and blitz to a dough (you can also use a stand mixer or make these by hand if you wish.).
2. Roll out the biscuit dough out to 5 mm thick, then transfer to a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. While still hot, cut into neat 4 cm x 8 cm rectangles. Allow to cool.
3. To make the custard, in a medium saucepan, warm the milk and salt to simmering. Whisk the yolks and cornflour together in a small bowl. Add a small amount of milk to the yolks, then whisk together in the saucepan off the heat. Return to the heat and whisk until thickened, remove, then add the grated cheese. Whisk until smooth. Blitz briefly with a stick mixer. Transfer to a heatproof jug and press down a layer of plastic wrap to the surface. Refrigerate until completely chilled, then transfer to a piping bag.
4. Place the figs into a narrow jug or container and use a stick mixer to blitz the fruit until smooth. Transfer to a small saucepan and bring to the boil with 70 g sugar. Combine the remaining sugar with the yellow pectin, then add to the fig mixture once boiled. Continue to cook while whisking until the mixture reaches 107˚C, or it’s rather thick and coming away from the edges of the saucepan. Add the citric acid and whisk until dissolved. Remove from the heat and transfer to a container, then allow the fig jam to set.
5. To serve, spread a small amount of fig jam onto the cooled biscuits, then pipe a generous amount of custard on top. Cover with a generous coating of finely grated cheddar cheese.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.