Ingredients
Approximately 1 apple per person.
Puff pastry or shortcrust pastry.
Butter
250g Sugar
Instructions
- Peel apples, quarter and cut out core.
- Fry apples in 4-6 rounded Tbsp unsalted butter to brown, on one side first, then turn and brown on other side. You want brown apple color without cooking down the apples, keep browning until just before the apples start getting mushy.
- Then in another frying pan make the caramel:
- Pour 250 grams sugar in frying pan, using a flat edge wooden spoon to stir until sugar melts to a liquid golden brown caramel then pour quickly, before the caramel has time to harden, into pie tart pan covering the bottom evenly. Then place the nicely browned sides of apples down on top of caramel. This will be the top after it bakes. Place apples nicely into attractive spiral or circular pattern.
- Then place pie crust on top tucking extra crust into sides of dish. The crust needs to plenty larger than the pie pan. Uneven looks nice.
- Bake in oven at 400° F. until crust is brown and the caramel is bubbly, about 30 minutes. Then cool until luke warm, loosen crust from sides of tarte pan, turn onto large flat serving plate. Do not let cool too much or the caramel and pie crust will stick to the pan. Tapping with some kitchen utensil will help the pie come unstuck from pie pan.
- Best served warm but can also be served cold, with vanilla ice-cream or crème fraiche.
Notes
- It is important to choose apples that will hold their shape while cooking, not melt into apple sauce, and not release too much liquid. In North America Golden Delicious, Granny Smith or Jonathan are excellent choices. Gala and Pink lady are good too.
- Research shows that the tarte Tatin was first created accidentally at the Hotel Tatin in the 1880s. The hotel was run by two sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin. There are conflicting stories concerning the tart’s origin, but the most common is that Stéphanie Tatin was overworked one day. She started to make a traditional apple pie but left the apples cooking in butter and sugar for too long. Smelling the burning, she tried to rescue the dish by putting the pastry base on top of the pan of apples, quickly finishing the cooking by putting the whole pan in the oven. After turning out the upside down tart, she was surprised to find how much the hotel guests appreciated the dessert. In an alternative version of the tart’s origin, Stéphanie baked a caramelized apple tart upside-down by mistake, regardless she served her guests the unusual dish.
