Tarte Tatin (A 'Reversed' Apple Pie)
Submitted by mixednuts
The legendary French upside-down apple tart with just four ingredients: puff pastry, apples, butter, and caramelized sugar. Flip it onto a plate and prepare for gasps.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
60 minREADY
90 minLegend has it the Tatin sisters invented this tart by accident at their hotel in Lamotte-Beuvron. Whether that’s true or not, the result is pure genius.
Apple halves stand upright in a pool of golden caramel, bake until soft and deeply bronzed, then get blanketed with a thin sheet of puff pastry.
The magic happens when you flip it: what was the bottom becomes a glistening, amber-glazed top with apples fused into the caramel like stained glass.
Serve it warm with a dollop of crème chantilly and let the simplicity speak for itself.
Chef Tips
- Watch the caramel like a hawk. You want light golden brown, not dark amber. It goes from beautiful to burnt in seconds.
- Pack the apple halves tightly standing on their edges. They shrink as they bake, so cram in more than you think will fit.
- Rest for exactly 5 minutes before flipping. Too long and the caramel sets like cement. Too soon and you’ll have a molten sugar avalanche.
- Use parchment paper on the base as directed. Without it, unmolding becomes a gamble you will likely lose.
Ingredients
Directions
For a 26 centimeter (10.2 inch) diameter pie form.
Roll out the pastry ( 2 millimeter, 1/10 inch, thick) to a 30 cm (11.8 inch) disc and leave it to rest in the refrigerator.
Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees cup (435 degrees F).
Butter a 26centimeter-diameter disc of baking parchment and carefully line the base of the tin with it.
Spread the sugar over the paper, shaking it evenly over the surface, place in the middle of the oven and bake for some 8 minutes to caramelize the sugar.
Keep care !! Caramelize to light golden brown !! Then add the butter, let it melt, and leave to cool a little.
(You can try without baking parchment: it’s difficult to unmold !!) Place the halved apples vertically side by side (i. e. they MUST be higher than the rim of the tin !). Bake for some 25 minutes (at the same temperature). ‘Line’ (i. e. cover) the apples with the pastry disc . Bake for 20 . 25 minutes (at the same temperature), tttooto. Let cool 5 minutes on a rack, then turn over and unmold the ‘tarte tatin’ on a plate, remove the baking parchment. The ‘tarte tatin’ look now like an apple pie :-) Serving: warm or lukewarm with ‘creme chantilly’
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