Ecuadorian Babaco Tart or Pie
This traditional Ecuadorian Babaco Tart combines sweet mountain papaya preserves with a buttery, golden crust. The tropical fruit’s delicate flavor, enhanced with cinnamon and citrus, makes this dessert both delicious and comforting.
What is an Ecuadorian babaco?
Babaco is an Ecuadorian fruit that grows in the highlands or Sierra. For some reason its name has been translated as mountain papaya in English. Which I find contradictory because regular papayas already grow in the mountains. In addition, the texture, flavor and even the seeds are very different from papaya.
A babaco has a very soft texture and is used to make juices and fruit preserves (dulce de babaco). The skin is edible, but is usually peeled. One of my favorite ways to eat babaco is drizzled with honey and lime juice.
How to Prepare the Babaco Filling
If you’ve ever tried to prepare a babaco pie or tart without cooking it beforehand, you likely ended up with a very mushy mix. It is important to cook the babaco first in order to be able to use it as a filling for pies, tarts or sweet empanadas. Cooking it helps it firm up the fruit pieces (but they will still be soft and delicate).
In Ecuador it’s common to cook a variety of fruits and even vegetables to make sweet caramelized, it’s called ‘dulce’ or sweet. We make dulce from figs (dulce de higos), pumpkin or squash (dulce de zapallo), pineapple, tree tomatoes, chayote, pears, green papaya, etc.
For a more in depth explanation of how to prepare the filling, follow my dulce de babaco recipe, and for more information about the crust, follow my sweet tart dough recipe!
Ingredient Notes
For the dulce de babaco filling
- Babaco: Choose fruit that’s yellow but still firm for the best texture and flavor balance. If you can’t find fresh babaco, you can find jarred babaco (also called mountain papaya) online!
- Water: To create a syrupy base.
- Sugar: White sugar creates a lighter color and flavor, while brown sugar or panela adds caramel notes and a deeper color.
- Cinnamon Sticks: For added warmth!
- Lime: Lime helps to balance out all the flavors and add just a touch of acidity.
- Orange Peel: For added citrus flavor.
For the sweet tart dough
- All-Purpose Flour: All-purpose flour works well here. If you need to make a gluten-free dough, use a gluten-free all purpose flour with a cup to cup ratio.
- Sugar: For just a hint of sweetness!
- Salt: To balance out all the flavors.
- Butter: Cold butter works best for the flakiest crust!
- Egg: Egg helps to add structure to the dough, making it easier to handle.
- Cold Water: To add moisture! I recommend using cold water to prevent the butter from melting.
Tips for Success
- Don’t throw away the syrup! Save the drained syrup for drizzling over the finished tart or using in cocktails and other beverages.
- Make it ahead! For ease, you can cook the preserves a day ahead so they can cool completely before assembling the tart.
- When making the dough, keep everything cold. Warm butter will make the dough greasy and difficult to work with. It is also best to handle the dough as little as possible. Only knead until the ingredients are combined!
- Chilling the dough twice (after forming and after placing in the pan) prevents shrinkage during baking, and ensures that the texture will stay flaky!
- Always prick the dough in the bottom of the pie pan with a fork before baking. This will prevent it from puffing up in the oven.
Serving Suggestions
This elegant babaco tart can be served on its own, but it would be delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or dollop of whipped cream or honey crème fraîche on top! Don’t forget to drizzle some of the reserved syrup on top, too.
If you have any leftover babaco preserves, don’t let them go to waste. Serve them with your morning toast or yogurt, or serve them on a cheese board!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make the components ahead of time?
Yes! The preserves can be made up to a week ahead and refrigerated. The tart dough can be made 2-3 days ahead and kept refrigerated, or frozen for up to a month.
Can I use store-bought pie crust instead?
Yes, you can use pre-made crust in a pinch. I prefer the homemade sweet tart dough since has a cookie-like texture that pairs beautifully with the fruit!
How long will the finished babaco tart keep?
The tart is best enjoyed the day it’s made but will keep at room temperature for up to 2 days or refrigerated for up to 4 days.
Ecuadorian Babaco Tart or Pie
Ingredients
For the dulce de babaco filling:
- 1 babaco yellow but firm***
- 2 cups water
- 1 ½ – 2 cups sugar if you use regular sugar the preserves will be a lighter color and if you use brown sugar they will be darker
- 1-2 cinnamon sticks
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 piece of orange peel
For the sweet tart dough:
- 1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- A pinch of salt
- 1 stick of butter 4 ounces cut into small pieces
- 1 egg
- 2-3 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
To make the babaco preserves:
- Peel the babaco, remove or scoop out the seeds (soft inside part), and cut the babaco into long strips or squares.
- Blend seeds/insides with 1 cup of water, strain.
- Combine the babaco pieces, the blended mix, the remaining 1 cup of water, lime juice, sugar, cinnamon and orange peel in a pot over medium heat.
- Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 45 min- 1hr.
- Cook for another 15-30 minutes over medium-high heat to thicken the syrup. Let it cool down completely and drain the syrup (save the syrup as you can use it as a fruity simple syrup).
To make the sweet tart dough:
- Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and mix.
- Add the butter pieces, in batches, and pulse until mixed.
- Add the egg and the water, 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse/mix.
- The dough will be ready when small clumps start to form.
- Remove the dough from the food processor and knead it gently. Mold the dough into a flattened thick disc, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- On a floured sheet of wax paper, roll out the dough into a thin sheet that is a couple inches larger than the tart pan you plan to use – it’s okay if it extends beyond the edges of sheet of wax paper.
- Carefully flip the wax paper and the sheet of rolled pastry dough on to a lightly greased tart pan. Gently press the dough with your fingers onto the mold, start at the center and move outward. Use a rolling pin to roll over the edges and remove any excess dough from the edges. If you want, you can leave a ½ – 1 inch to wrap around the edges of the pan – this will help prevent the crust from shrinking down.
- Prick the tart shell with a fork and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or until ready to use.
To assemble and bake the babaco tart:
- Pre-heat the oven to 400F (200 C).
- Arrange the drained chunks of sweet babaco preserves on the tart shell, I usually start from the outside edges and place them in a circular form.
- Bake the tart for about 35-40 minutes at 400 F (200 C) or until the crust is golden.
- Serve alone, or with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Notes
Step by step preparation photos for this Ecuadorian babaco tart:
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This looks amazing. I’ve been hoping for an ecuadorian babaco dessert recipe for a while. Gracias Laylita!
I mix pineapple with babaco and the two together make a wonderful pie.
That sounds like a delicious combination!