Tarte tatin is one of those happy accidents we’re all very grateful for! Stephanie Tatin worked in the kitchens of the small hotel she and her sister owned. When making a traditional tarte tatin one day, she overcooked the apples and aiming to salvage the dish, placed the pastry on top to cook in the oven. A legend was born!
I definitely recommend that you buy ready made puff pastry – but there’s a recipe for home made puff pastry below too!
Tarte Tatin: Serves 8
For the pastry:
250g flour
pinch of salt
110g cold butter, cubed
40g margarine, cubed
1 egg
2 tsps water
OR – buy ready made puff pastry for an very easy to make tarte tatin!
For the filling:
8 small apples (about 750g) peeled and cored
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
1 tsp cinnamon
120g butter
200g granulated sugar
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
For the pastry
In the bowl of your food processor, pulse the flour, salt, butter and margarine until the mixture resembles oatmeal. Then add the egg and the water, and pulse again until the dough comes together. On a sheet of parchment paper roll out the pastry to a circle that is slightly larger than the pan you will be using. Put the pastry in the fridge while you get on with the rest of the recipe.
For tarte tatin filling
Cut the peeled and cored apples in half, add the vanilla and cinnamon, and toss well to mix.
Put your tarte tatin pan on the stove and slowly melt the butter. Once the butter is almost fully melted, add the sugar and stir well for about a minute or two. Now increase the heat to about medium and leave the caramel until it starts to turn golden and smell wonderful. This will take about 10 minutes. Whatever you do, do not stir! Simply swirl the caramel every now and then.
Add the apples (cut side down) and then gently turn them around (cut side up) so they are completely coated with the caramel. Turn down the heat a bit, and leave the apples to cook for about five minutes.
Assemble the tarte tatin
In the meantime, take your pastry out of the fridge. Once the apples are cooked, take the pan off the heat, and carefully cover the apples with the pastry making sure to tuck in the sides and fold over any remaining pastry. Prick the pastry a few times with a fork.
Bake the tarte tatin for about 45-50 minutes. Leave to cool on a rack for about ten minutes before turning it out on to a plate. To serve, place a plate on top of the pan, put on some oven gloves, and flip the whole thing over so that the tarte tatin ends up on your plate. Serve with crème fraîche or ice cream.
