Tarts & Pies
Apple Tarte Tatin
Wonderfully tart Granny Smith apples provide a nice contrast to a sweet caramel, with the perfect pastry to encase it all.
Having spent a few days in Paris, there was no shortage of pastries which I tried. I tried many variants from macarons to choux and entremets to flan. What surprised me the most however, was how delicious a well-made apple tarte tatin could be.
I am not a massive fan of desserts which contain apples, but this is one of a few exceptions, Yotam Ottolenghi's apple cake being another firm favourite.
Done right, I prefer the apple to have a slight bite to it, and the caramel to be deep enough to not be sickly sweet. The right amount of sweet, bitter and tart make for an interesting taste bud experience. What is equally important however is a thin layer of flaky puff pastry, which provides a nice crispness to the soft, sticky apples.
I adapted this recipe from Pastry School by Julie Jones.
The recipe
Apple Tarte Tatin
adventureswithsugar.com/apple-tarte-tatin/
Method
Method: tarte tatin
- Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 180˚ Celsius.
- Line the pan: Use baking paper to line the base of a 20cm oven-safe skillet or tarte tatin pan.
- Prepare the apples: Peel the apples, core out the centre and cut them into quarters.
- Toss with sugar and lemon: Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of castor sugar, the lemon juice and the lemon zest onto the apples. Toss together and set aside.
- Start the caramel: Add 100g of castor sugar, water and the star anise to the pan and set on medium heat.
- Caramelise the sugar: Heat until the sugar melts and turns a golden amber colour. Do not stir the caramel – instead swirl the pan around.
- Add the butter: Once the caramel is amber, add in 50g of cubed butter and whisk vigorously to combine.
- Pour the caramel into the pan: Pour the caramel into the lined skillet / tarte tatin pan.
- Arrange the apples: Arrange the apples in the skillet, starting from the outside and moving in.
- Brush with vanilla butter: Add the vanilla bean paste to the 30g of melted butter and brush over the apples.
- Bake the apples: Bake the apples in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes until they begin to soften but retain some bite.
- Roll out the pastry: Whilst the apples are baking, roll out your puff pastry and cut into a 23cm circle. Place it into the fridge until needed.
- Let cool: Remove the apples from the oven and let them rest for 30 minutes to cool.
- Cover with pastry: Place the pastry over the apples and use the back of a spoon to tuck the pastry into the corners.
- Cut a steam vent: Make a small X in the middle of the pastry to allow steam to escape.
- Egg wash: Brush the pastry with egg wash.
- Bake: Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown.
- Rest and turn out: Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before flipping the tarte tatin onto a plate so the caramelised apples are on top. Be careful with this as there might be some loose caramel that is still hot.
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