Tarte Tatin is pure heaven for lovers of caramelized fruit. Essentially, it's an upside-down tart, with the fruit slowly caramelized in buttter and sugar on the stove top, then topped with pastry and baked in the oven. The origin of Tarte Tatin lies with the Tatin sisters who had a restaurant in the French village of Lamotte-Beuvron at the turn of the 20th century. The story goes that they made an error while baking a traditional apple tart, when the pastry was omitted from the bottom of the tart pan. Not to be deterred, the Tatin sisters added the pastry as an afterthought on top of the fruit, and so we have the Tarte Tatin. This is a perfect example of going with the flow in the kitchen - with spectacular results.
Tarte Tatin
A perfect dessert to finish an autumn meal. Traditionally prepared with apples, but pears and apricots work well, too.
Serves 10-12
Sour Cream Pastry:
1 1/2 cups (165 g.) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (170 g.) chilled unsalted butter, cut in pieces
6 tablespoons sour cream
Apple Filling:
1/2 cup (115 g.) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (225 g.) plus 2 tblsp. sugar
5-6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, quartered top to bottom
1 egg, beaten to blend, for glaze
Prepare pastry:
Blend flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl of a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Add butter and mix at medium-low speed until butter is size of peas, about 3 minutes. Add sour cream and mix until moist clumps form, about 1 minute. Gather dough into ball, flatten and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. (Can be made one day ahead. Keep refrigerated.) Let soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.
Spread butter over bottom of large oven-proof skillet with sloping sides. Sprinkle 1 cup sugar over butter. Place skillet over medium-low heat and cook until butter melts, sugar begins to dissolve and mixture starts to bubble, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Arrange apples, core side up, around edge of skillet, placing tightly together. Place remaining apples in a circle in center of skillet. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
Set skillet over medium-high heat. Boil until a thick amber colored syrup forms, repositioning skillet to ensure even cooking, about 30 minutes. While apples cook, fill in gaps with additional apple quarters. Remove skillet from heat.
While apples are cooking on stove, preheat oven to 425 F.
Roll out pastry on floured surface or parchment paper to a round shape to fit size of skillet.
Place dough over apple mixture once removed from stove, pressing dough down around the apples at edge of skillet. Cut 4 slits in top of pastry. Brush pastry with some of the egg glaze.
Bake tart until pastry is deep golden brown, 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool one minute.
Cut around edge of skillet to loosen pastry. Place large platter over skillet. Using oven mitts, hold skillet and platter together tightly together and invert tart onto platter. Cool 30 minutes.
Cut in wedges and serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
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