Mistakes are not always bad. Most often we learn from them, and sometimes they even help us inventing. Thanks to culinary mistakes we have the chocolate ganache, crème brûlée, and tart Tatin – an upside-down cake. We don’t know the truth about how it was born. But the fact that the filling turned out to be under the dough, and not vice versa, confirms: something went wrong on Tatin sisters’ kitchen 🙂 Since then, the mistake has become a law that is strictly guarded by the fellowship of “Tart Tatin” admirers – Lichonneux de la Tarte Tatin (French take food seriously and with respect). The tart is simple, but the taste is impossible to forget. The most difficult thing in making tart Tatin is not to burn the caramel and skilfully turn it over at the end. But this is just a matter of practice, so: practice, practice, practice!
Mistakes are not always bad. Most often we learn from them, and sometimes they even help us inventing. Thanks to culinary mistakes we have the chocolate ganache, crème brûlée, and tart Tatin – an upside-down cake. We don’t know the truth about how it was born. But the fact that the filling turned out to be under the dough, and not vice versa, confirms: something went wrong on Tatin sisters’ kitchen 🙂 Since then, the mistake has become a law that is strictly guarded by the fellowship of “Tart Tatin” admirers – Lichonneux de la Tarte Tatin (French take food seriously and with respect). The tart is simple, but the taste is impossible to forget. The most difficult thing in making tart Tatin is not to burn the caramel and skilfully turn it over at the end. But this is just a matter of practice, so: practice, practice, practice!- Prep time: 30 minutes + 1 hour’s chilling
- Cook time: 30 minutes
- Serves: 8
- Difficulty: medium
- Course: pastry
- Cookware: tarte Tatin dish set, large frying pan with thick bottom
- Cuisine: French
Ingredients
For Breton dough:
- 250 g flour
- 125 g butter
- 100 g sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- a pinch of salt
For caramelized apples:
- 1.5 kg apples, firm and juicy
- 150 g sugar
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only
- seeds of 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 50 g butter
- 100 ml brandy
Cooking method
Step 1
Rub together the flour and butter until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add sugar, egg yolks, and salt, and knead until smooth. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Step 2
Heat the oven to 190˚С. Roll out the pastry into a circle slightly larger than tarte Tatin baking dish, and refrigerate. In the process of rolling, the dough heats up, and we need to cool it again before baking.
Step 3
Peel and core the apples, cut into large wedges and mix with 100g sugar in a bowl. Pour 50g sugar into a hot frying pan and put on medium heat. Add thyme leaves and vanilla to the sugar. After the sugar has begun to melt and has acquired a light golden colour, add apples. Stir occasionally. The apples should turn a golden-brown colour. Then add butter and brandy, and light. Allow the fire to die on its own, then remove the apples from heat.
Step 4
Transfer the apples to the tarte Tatin baking dish, pour the remaining juice on top. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and lay it over the apples. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow the tarte Tatin to cool for 15-20 minutes, and then transfer it to a serving dish, gently turning it over. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.
My tips and tricks:
If your apples are too juicy and you want to reduce the amount of juice in your tart, make use of a little secret. The day before baking the tart Tatin, peel and cut the apples and refrigerate them in an open container. The apples will darken and dry out a little, losing moisture. Don’t worry about the colour – the apples will darken during the caramelization process anyway.
- For Breton dough:
- 250 g flour
- 125 g butter
- 100 g sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- a pinch of salt
- For caramelized apples:
- 1.5 kg apples, firm and juicy
- 150 g sugar
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only
- seeds of 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 50 g butter
- 100 ml brandy
- Rub together the flour and butter until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add sugar, egg yolks, and salt, and knead until smooth. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Heat the oven to 190˚С. Roll out the pastry into a circle slightly larger than tarte Tatin baking dish, and refrigerate. In the process of rolling, the dough heats up, and we need to cool it again before baking.
- Peel and core the apples, cut into large wedges and mix with 100g sugar in a bowl. Pour 50g sugar into a hot frying pan and put on medium heat. Add thyme leaves and vanilla to the sugar. After the sugar has begun to melt and has acquired a light golden colour, add apples. Stir occasionally. The apples should turn a golden-brown colour. Then add butter and brandy, and light. Allow the fire to die on its own, then remove the apples from heat.
- Transfer the apples to the tarte Tatin baking dish, pour the remaining juice on top. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and lay it over the apples. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow the tarte Tatin to cool for 15-20 minutes, and then transfer it to a serving dish, gently turning it over. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.