Perfect Apple Tarte Tatin
Total Time
50 to 60 minutes, plus cooling time
Rating
4.5 out of 5 stars
(12)
Ingredients
8 servings
- Juice of half a lemon
- 4 tablespoons (55 grams or 2 ounces) unsalted butter, cubed, very cold
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 sheet of defrosted puffed pastry or a half recipe of extra-flaky pie crust
- 7 to 8 medium-large Pink Lady, Gala, or Fuji apples (3 to 3 1/2 pounds; 1.3 to 1.5kg)
- Crème fraîche or softly whipped cream, unsweetened, for serving (optional)
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Preparation
Step 1
Heat oven to 400°F (205°C).
Step 2
Peel your apples. Cut apples in thirds off of the core as best you can (no need for perfectly even thirds) and cut or scoop any remaining seeds out. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over them and toss to coat.
Step 3
Have the butter very cold and ready by the stove.
Step 4
Pour sugar into a large (11- to 12-inch) skillet and place over medium-high heat and cook, without stirring, until sugar is partially liquefied, about 4 minutes. Whisk until all unmelted sugar disappears into the caramel and nudge the heat down to medium low. Cook until the sugar is dark amber, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat, immediately add butter and whisk to melt and combine.
Step 5
Return to the heat and add the apples and cook over medium high heat. The caramel will seize up a bit and will seem too thick to coat the apples, but it will loosen up in a minute. Cook, gently stirring and turning to ensure even cooking, until apples soften and begin to turn translucent at the edges and are about 3/4 of the way cooked through, about 10 minutes.
Step 6
Using tongs, transfer apples, rounded side down, one at a time to a smaller (10-inch) skillet with an oven-proof handle or a 10-inch (standard) pie dish. Arrange them in a concentric circle around the outside, overlapping each apple by about 1/3 and purposely crowding them. Arrange remaining apples in the center of the ring.
Step 7
Pour any extra caramel in the skillet over the apples. Let this cool for 10 minutes, and use this time to roll out the pastry.
Step 8
Roll the dough out to a rough circle about one inch larger than the pan.
Step 9
Top sautéed apples with the pastry round, tucking the edges in all around. Cut a vent or two in the center, and place dish or skillet on a baking sheet. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until pastry is nicely browned and apples are bubbling around the edges.
Step 10
Run a butter knife around the edges to loosen. Let cool in the pan at least 30 minutes and up to 60 minutes. Peek under the crust if you can, or tilt the pan slightly, looking for evidence that the caramel and juices have thickened slightly.
Step 11
To invert, top with a serving plate and grasp the pan and plate tightly together as a unit and flip quickly. Remove the pan. If any apples stick to the pan, just replace them where they should go on the tart.
Step 12
Serve warm, with crème fraîche or whipped cream, if desired.
Step 13
If it has cooled completely before you serve, either return to the oven (if in a pie dish) or the stove (if in a skillet) to warm up and loosen the caramel for a few minutes. Leftovers keep well in the fridge, rewarm gently before serving.
Step 14
Save recipe for the next time?
Chef's notes
While the recipe calls for 7 and almost always only needs 7 apples, I always start with 8, just in case one is too banged up to use, or they shrink enough that I can fit an extra piece in.
Caramel apple pieces that don’t fit — you’ll figure out what to do with them.
Look for apples that are relatively even in size for even "cobblestones" on the tart.
An important note about checking the caramel’s temperature:
It takes 1 to 2 minutes for the caramel to get to the dark amber color after you whisk it smooth — this is really fast. More than once, in just the 10 to 20 seconds I was fumbling with my thermometer (the temp reading won’t stay steady), it got too dark and smoky and I had to start over again. I highly recommend just eyeballing the color.
