Apple Tarte Tatin

Finally a post about dessert! If you have apples laying around that nobody is interested in anymore, this is the recipe for you. At first, I tried to follow The Kitchen Bible's recipe, but I didn't have the right apples or the foresight to take out the butter, so the result really is a pleasant surprise.

Apple Tarte Tatin
4 Golden delicious apples
2 Empire apples
Juice from half a lemon
10 tbsp butter
1 cup sugar

Pastry
2 cups all purpose flour
10 tbsp butter
1/4 sugar
1 egg

One of my favorite things about moving to New York is all the apples. When I saw that the farmer's market sold apples at half the price of those sold in Alaska, I--of course--bought too many. Then we went to an apple farm, which I loved, but I couldn't imagine bringing back even more. With all these apples laying around and one person to eat them (Bill had lost interest), I had to cook them into something more enticing. This recipe's short ingredients list made it a choice candidate.

I made the pastry like a pie dough because I didn't take out the butter soon enough. Mix the flour and the sugar together, then cut in the butter. Mix the egg slightly with a fork then add it to the flour. Use the fork to incorporate it into the dough so all the flour is hydrated and starts to come together. Then press it into a disk, wrap it in plastic and chill in the fridge for an hour.

While the dough is chilling, prepare the apples. I started cutting the apples like I would for an apple pie. Then I realized I should quarter them instead so the pieces are smaller and flatter.

Toss the apples with some lemon juice to preserve them.

Melt the butter on medium heat, then stir in the sugar. I think you're suppose to let it cook for a bit to liquefy the sugar, but I followed the recipe book and kept stirring. The result was a bubbling brown sugar mixture. But it wasn't all a loss. The product was still delicious, you'll see!

Add the mixture to the baking pan. Another liberty I took was using an spring form pan. Thinking ahead, I put a sheet pan to catch the liquid that would leak out. But I didn't anticipate how much of a bubbling mess it would be. It took a miracle to transfer it to a serving dish. The recipe book suggested a flame proof baking dish.

Place the apples round side down. I was only able to fit 2/3 of the apple pieces. Then I just threw all the rest on top of that.

They were well hidden under the crust. Tuck in the sides of the crust.

Bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees. The drained butter-syrup was probably a blessing in disguise. The upside down tart had just enough sweetness and a good balance of soft topping and crust. The sides were caramelized with a delicious crunch. Without any spices, this dessert really allows the apple flavor to shine. It smelled as wonderful as it tasted.

I had to take a picture of the last piece before it was all gone!

Don't worry, Bill and I had some help eating it. Stay tuned for a post about the dinner that went with this dessert (not themed)!