The classic French caramel apple tart with a sweet history. The Tarte Tatin is delicious, very easy to make, and unmolding it from the pan will impress everyone, even your kids. Baked upside down with a crust of puff pastry on top, it’s hard not to love. Allegedly created by accident when one of the Tatin sisters was so busy she forgot to put the crust in the pan before the apples. She simply put the crust on top and made an upside-down tart, it’s a great story, but you’ve got to be really busy to not notice the missing crust as you’re placing the apples in the pan. But who am I to cast doubt?
There are two ways I like to make the Tarte Tatin. The traditional way is to simply place uncooked apples on top of the caramel in a pan. The second way is to quickly poach the apples prior to placing them in the pan. Although poaching adds an additional step, I prefer the flavor and the look of the tart that you can only get by starting with slightly softened poached apples. And how can you go wrong with poaching apples in butter, sugar, apple cider and vanilla?
This is how I make my Tarte Tatin:
INGREDIENTS, Caramel:
- ¾ Cup Granulated Sugar
- ¼ Cup Water
- ¼ Cup Unsalted Butter
PROCESS:
-Butter the sides of a 9-inch cake pan and set aside.
-Place water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, watch carefully
-Continue to cook until the sugar begins to turn an amber color, remove from heat and let the sugar continue to a nice dark brown, but not burnt.
-Once you get to the desired color, add the butter to stop the cooking, pour into the 9-inch cake pan, making sure to cover the entire bottom of the pan
-Set aside and let cool
INGREDIENTS, Poaching:
- 6 Golden Delicious Apples
- ½ Cup Unsalted Butter
- 2 Cups Water
- 2 Cups Apple Cider
- 1 Lemon, Juice
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
PROCESS:
-Peel and core the apples, cut into quarters
-Combine all the ingredients except the apples in a saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-high
-Add the apples and simmer. Depending on the type of apple you use, its anywhere from 4 to 10 minutes, don’t overcook, they will be going in the oven to bake after this, you just want to soften them a little, to make them easier to work with.
-Remove from the poaching liquid and let cool.
INGREDIENTS, Assembling:
- ½ Recipe Pâte Brisée or Frozen Puff Pastry
PROCESS:
-You can use either Pâte Brisée which I believe is the traditional dough for the Tart Tatin, my recipe is here: https://www.sipsnibblesbites.com/pate-brisee/
Or, and I think this is better, just use a package of good quality frozen puff pastry
-Preheat the oven to 350°F
-Roll out the dough, let rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, then cut out a circle of dough 1-inch in diameter larger than the cake pan
-Arrange the poached apple slices with the cut side up in the cake pan, squeeze the apples into the pan but gently, don’t crush or damage the apples
-Dock the dough with a fork and drape it over the apples
-Place the tart in the oven and bake for approximately 30-40 minutes, until dough reaches the desired golden brown color
-Remove from the oven and let cool until it’s still warm, but not burning hot
UNMOLDING:
-Place a Platter over the top of the cake pan, and with a firm grip on both the platter and the pan, quickly and confidently turn the tart over onto the platter. Do this over the sink in case of and spills.
