The Sunday Pâtisserie: Tarte Tatin

Sorry guys, last week's Pâtisserie was forgotten, I'll make it up this time with the delicious...

Tarte Tatin

Similarly to many other recipes, Tarte Tatin has an interesting backstory to it. Supposedly the Tatin sisters invented it when one of them forgot the dough and added it on top of the apples after they had already been put in the oven. This delicious pie was the result of a mistake. Funny thing is I added an extra mistake when I made mine this weekend.

Tarte Tatin is made with apples caramelised in butter and sugar, then topped by the dough (a pâte brisée, see recipe) and baked in a warm oven. The apples are kept as big as possible and become very tender with the concentration of steam from under the dough.It is possible to add cinammon, which I did, since it goes so well with apples!

Once the caramel (sugar and butter) is a nice brown color, it's time to add the apples in a beautiful manner. Let them cook for a bit, and top it all with the dough. Be careful not to burn yourself. Hot caramel is a bad thing, even when it looks cool enough, it usually isn't.

The Tarte Tatin is very much an upside down pie, you start from the top to the bottom. Since the apples are covered, the steam concentrates and cook them. Still it's important to pierce a little hole and add a little paper chimney so it can escape. 
Bake it in the oven for about half an hour, let it cool and flip it on the nice side. Careful with the warm syrup from the apples!

As I said I made a mistake with my pie. I didn't push the dough correctly and it ended up being a bit too loose. It was delicious nonetheless and looked presentable enough but it was a close call. Tarte Tatin is a delicious dessert to conclude an autumn or winter dinner. It's simple to make yet looks fancy. I am quite fond of it myself. Have a great week guys!