Last updated on October 1st, 2014
ARRANGE APPLE SLICES on a bed of caramel, top them with pastry crust, unmold so the crust is on the bottom, and what do you get? La Tarte Tatin. I’ve made this elegant, too-delicious-for-words dessert hundreds of times, and still get a thrill while unmolding it. Here’s the recipe, in words and pictures:
Tarte Tatin
Ingredients for one 8-inch diameter tart, serving 6-8
6 Golden Delicious, Crispin, or Granny Smith apples
The juice and zest of one lemon
1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
Pastry Dough – I use half the recipe for Pate Brisee Fine; in a pinch you can use one store-bought pie crust
Necessary Equipment: a well-seasoned, 8-inch diameter cast-iron skillet; a bulb-baster
1. The lemon – into a large bowl, zest the yellow rind. Then cut the fruit in half, and squeeze the juice from each half into the bowl. To keep seeds from falling into the bowl, I wrap a paper towel around each half, as above, before squeezing.
2. The apples – Core, peel and quarter; cut the quarters in half lengthwise. Add these to the lemon mixture, and toss the works with a half-cup of sugar. Let the apples exude their juices for 20 minutes; drain.
3. The butter – meanwhile, slice the stick of butter lengthwise in fourths, and then dice the quarters into half-inch cubes. Melt these in a cast-iron skillet set over medium heat.
4. Making the caramel – add one cup of sugar to the melted butter. Stir constantly for about 5 minutes, or until a rich brown color is achieved, as above. Remove from heat.
5. Adding the apples – in a single layer on top of the hot caramel, arrange the apple slices in some attractive pattern, as above. Dump the remaining apples on top without arranging them — this layer won’t be on “public view.”
6. Basting and preliminary stove-top cooking – set the skillet over a medium-low flame, and, being careful not to dislodge the the first layer of apples, suck up the caramel with the bulb baster and spread it over the apples (I’d offer you a better picture here, but basting boiling caramel with one hand while holding a camera with the other seemed a little dangerous.) Then cover the pan and simmer the apples for 15 minutes or so until they are tender but not mushy. Remove from heat. And, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
7. The pastry topping – roll out the dough one inch larger than your skillet; place it over the apples, and tuck it in along the pan’s edge. Then cut four or five small holes in the pastry, as above, to allow steam to escape.
8. Baking – 20 minutes at 425 degrees. Set the tart on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for exactly 20 minutes; the pastry crust will have browned slightly, and the caramel and apple juices — if you tilt the pan — will be syrupy-thick.
9. Unmolding – the moment the pan comes out of the oven, set an inverted plate or serving platter on it, and quickly flip the two. If a few apples stick to the pan, as sometimes happens, just replace them on the tart (or eat them, as reader Terry suggests).
10. Serving – however you serve it — hot, warm, or cold — Tarte Tatin is delicious. I enjoy mine with just a dollop of whipped cream.
If you like this recipe, kindly drop me a line in the comments field. I love hearing from you.
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Adele says
Kevin, thanks for a detailed accounting of this fabulous dessert. You've inspired me to make it this weekend!
Yolanda says
Great details. Too often these are lacking in cookbooks.
Eric says
Another great recipe, Kevin. Just curious, could this be made with pears instead of apples?
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Eric – I think I've seen this made with pears. I, alas,have not tried it with anything except apples.
Sheila says
Great recipe!!! I'll try it!
Valerie says
Another great one 🙂
RuthWells says
I adore tarte tatin. my method is slitly different from yours, as it calls for turning each apple half over in the caramel half-way through cooking. Either way, c’est deliciouse!
Southern Sassie Girls says
Kevin, as always, this it great!
I was wondering, I have Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites from King Arthur Flours and was wondering how to use this instead of making a caramel, less sugar in the recipe maybe? just coat the apples with the sugar along w/ the lemon juice? Would love to hear your ideas.
Cindy Sue
Melissa Horton says
Simple elegance…thank you for this recipe. I just need a well seasoned cast iron skillet.
vickie says
This is our sunday dessert today -thanks so much for the recipe!
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Ruth Wells – c’est deliciouse — oui!
Southern Sassie Girls – Not sure how you would adjust the recipe in order to incorporate King Arthur’s cinnamon Flav-R-Bites. My version of Tarte Tatin — which tastes, at least to me, exactly like the Tarte Tatin I enjoyed in Paris — does not contain any cinnamon at all.
vickie – Yessss! Please let me know how it turns out for you.
Andreas says
Hi Kevin,
great recipe and lovely pictures! I used to make this at work (Merdien Hotel in London) every day for six months. We peeled cored our apples (granny smith) and halved them. Into a heavy copper mould went the butter, then the sugar and the apples were stood side by side and the whole thing cooked on low heat until the sugar was caramelized and the apples tender. There were always a few extra on top, to push into the gaps, and it went into the oven for maybe 20 minutes, to make sure that all the apples were cooked. The puff pastry base was cooked seperately on a baking sheet, and when the tart was cooled enough the baked pastry was put on top, and cut round to fit, then all inversed onto a serving plate. made a Tarte Tatin with a “high” apple content 🙂 . We also used to make it with pears but instead of puff pastry it was topped with a quatre quart (madeira cake) mix. The pears had to be just so – not too ripe!
Southern Sassie Girls says
Hello Kevin! I got curious and went searching, this is what I found: recipe using 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon tossed in w/ the apples, a cinnamon and vanilla syrup to go on top, and then the most interesting one was making a Chambord Syrup with a cinnamon cream to go on top of that, yummy! Just thought you’d like to know your cooking inspires, thanks!
Cindy Sue
Linda Warner says
The last photo I was able to view was # 6…I dropped the view box hoping to see unblock image but it was not there. Guess I can wing it. Thanks
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Linda Warner – I’ve just fixed the photos — hopefully you can view all of them now.
Deb Haack says
Thank you Kevin for this luscious recipe. I made it for my husband on his birthday, he absolutely loved it. I do believe that this one will become a family hand-me-down recipe.
You were right that it is perfect without any toppings. I offered whipped cream with it and everyone said that it was perfect just the way it is.
Carol says
Hi Kevi,
I have just tried to make this TWICE tonight( from afrench cook book I have) with some beautiful ‘Taylors Gold’ prears, Each time I melted the quarter lb of butter and added the sugar it seemed to take ages on med heat and then when the sugar finally started to melt the butter separated and the sugar became almost too hard to stir yet was only a pale colour. (My first attempt … i kept stirring and although the butter had separated the sugar caramelised …and promptly burnt.)
I did bake the second one and it looked fabulous but then a whole lot of thin juice kept flooding out on to thge dish.
Can you give me some advise please. Im dying to try your mozerella. Cheers carol
Lori says
Hi Kevin. I don’t know what I did wrong but as Carol stated in her comment regarding making the carmel the same thing happened to me. I melted the butter added the sugar and mixed continuously. My mixture never really browned and became thick and I couldn’t baste juices with my apples. After I covered and cooked 15 min more on stove stop I was then able to baste. Do you know what I could have done wrong?
Thanks
Lori
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Lori – A couple of questions for you. Did you follow the recipe that’s described above? And did you use a cast-iron pan? I only ask because this recipe and procedure has never failed me in the 12 years I’ve been making Tarte Tatin. (Carol mentioned that she used a recipe from another source, so I can’t speak for why her caramel didn’t work out.)
Anyway, please let me know about the proportions and type of pan you used. Then perhaps we can try to trouble-shoot from there.
Christine Baird says
Hi Kevin,
we have been making tarte tatin for many years, following the directions as Andreas described, with puff pastry dough on the top. Not sure, but I believe that is the way the “Tartin” sisters in France originally made this luscious dessert? Have also made it with pears, peaches and mangoes. (I’m a pastry chef by trade, 🙂 Those are a little more tricky, as the fruits needs to be just so slightly under-ripe. But it is a wonderful dessert and you reminded me to make it again for the upcoming “Apple dessert” get together with my friends. Thank you for all your great inspiring ideas!
Christine