Tarte Tatin

Consider this an utterly bastardized version of the French original – we have cut corners, bought dough, skipped caramel but made it infinitely easier and quicker to make. Let’s just say I have Americanized it. A tarte tatin is traditionally made with apples but can be made with anything – try tomatoes! Add goat cheese! Try pears! Maybe stone fruit! Heck try bananas! 

Essentially this tart is prepared upside down in a cast iron skillet. You sauté the apples with sugar and spices until they are soft but still maintain their shape. Then you drape it in puff pastry, scooching it under the apples on the sides so to encase your filling. Then you bake it until the crust is golden brown, let it cool a bit and then in one swift and terrifying motion flip it right side up onto a plate. Some rogue apples often need rearranging, but that's why we don't do the apples in an elaborate design after all! We’re American heathens!

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Simplified Tarte Tatin

Simplified Tarte Tatin
Yield: 1 tart
Author:

An American spin on a traditional French apple Tarte Tatin

Time

  • Prep: 15 minutes
  • Cook: 1 hour
  • Total: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 6 apples (I use a mixture each time – most often Honeycrisp, Granny Smith and Fuji), peeled, cored and cut into ¼- ½ inch slices
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 TB lemon juice
  • Pinch of salt
  • ¼ cup of butter
  • 1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed (try to use Dufour)

Recipe

  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. In a bowl, stir together apple slices, cinnamon, brown sugar, lemon and a pinch of salt.
  3. In a cast iron skillet (or similar oven proof pan) over medium heat add the apple mixture and butter. Cook stirring frequently for 15-20 minutes to soften your apples. You want them to be soft and tender but not a mushy mess – remember they still have to bake!
  4. Roll out your puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut it into a large circle the size of your cast iron skillet.
  5. Drape the raw pastry over the apple mixture in the pan and press the edges down around the mixture to sort of encase it in a circle. This is a little hair raising but I promise it will be fine. Just don't burn your fingerlets!
  6. Transfer skillet to preheated oven and bake for 35-50 mins or until pastry is nicely puffed and browned. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the outside of the pastry to loosen it a bit from where it might have cooked onto the pan. Place a plate on top of the cooled skilled and gently flip the tart. Do not hesitate or dither – just do it in one deliberate, continuous motion.
  7. Reattach any apples lingering in the skillet et voila! Serve with vanilla ice cream if you really want to wind up the French!
Mary Bell ClementDessertComment