Tarte TatinTarte Tatin
Apples softened in browned butter and sugar under a disc of short dough, baked until the top is golden, then — while it is still warm — turned out onto a plate so the caramelized apples that were the base become the top. The whole dish is an inversion: cooked one way, served the other, and the caramel pools over the cut apples as it falls.
Technique notes
The tart is made upside-down, and it comes out right way up: you make the dish upside-down, and the turn-out is the finish. The apples, the butter, and the sugar go in a heatproof round pan first, and the short dough — the same cold-butter dough as the quiche — is laid over the top of them and baked. The point of baking it upside-down is that the apples are cooked in their own browned butter and sugar, and the syrup they release runs down around the base of the dough, which does what raw dough does not: it seals the edge, and the caramel cannot burn because the dough is between it and the direct heat. When it comes out and is still warm, you put the plate on top and turn the whole thing over, and the apples — which were the base — are now the top, and the caramel, still runny at that moment, falls over them and sets into a glossy film on the plate. That inversion is the technique, and the window for it is narrow: while the pan is still warm and the caramel is still loose, you turn it out, and a moment later it sets.
Equipment
- A 23cm (9-inch) ovenproof round pan, with a low straight side and a lid if you have one — it must go under the heat directly, so glass is fine, and no pan that is not made for the oven
- A rolling pin and a lightly floured board, for the dough
- A large flat serving plate, wide enough to cover the pan, for the turn-out
Ingredients
- 4–5 firm, tart cooking apples — a firm, acid variety that holds its shape under heat, not a soft, sweet dessert one; Braeburn, Granny Smith, or Honeycrisp, peeled, cored, and cut into 1 cm (½-inch) slices
- 80 g (5½ tbsp) cold butter, cut into small dice, for the dough
- 130 g (1 cup) plain flour, for the dough, plus a little for the rolling
- 1 large egg yolk, for the dough, to bind the flour and the butter into a single, dry mass
- 1 tsp (4 g) fine salt
- 100 g (7 tbsp) unsalted butter, for the apples, browned in the pan
- 90 g (⅓ cup) caster (superfine) sugar, for the caramel — a coarse sugar will burn before it melts even
- A few drops of vanilla, or a pinch of cinnamon, to finish (optional)
Method
- Make the same short dough as the quiche, and rest it. Into a bowl, tip the flour and the salt, and mix through. Scatter the cold diced butter over the flour, and work it in until the mixture is a coarse, even crumble, with little pea-sized pieces of butter still visible. Rub in a 1 egg yolk, and just enough 1 tbsp of ice water, until the dough holds together in a rough ball. Wrap it in film, and let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hr, so the flour takes the fat and the dough stops spreading when it is rolled out.
- Cut the apples, and hold them ready. Peel, core, and cut the apples into 1 cm (½-inch) slices, and hold them in a bowl. You want them firm, dry, and ready to go straight into the pan when the butter and the sugar are ready to take them.
- Make the butter-and-sugar base, in the pan. Into the ovenproof round pan, over a medium heat, put the 100 g of cold butter and the 90 g of caster sugar, and let the butter melt and the sugar dissolve into it. Do not stir it into a caramel — let it melt into a smooth, pale, liquid buttersyrup, and once the sugar is fully dissolved and the liquid is a shining, even pool, it is ready. This is the base the apples will bake in — the fat and sugar that give the tart its colour, its gloss, and its buttery base.
- Lay the apples in, and let them soften. Pack the apple slices into the pan in one even layer, cut side up, and press them gently into the buttersyrup so they sit in it and are held. Then put the pan back over a gentle heat, and let it cook, undisturbed, for about 8–10 min, until the apples have softened at the edges, the liquid has bubbled and reduced to a glossy syrup, and the apples are just starting to give and to hold their shape. Take the pan off the heat, and let it stand for a minute or two, until the syrup has calmed from a boil to a slow bubble.
- Lay the dough over the top, and tuck it in. On a floured board, roll the rested dough out to a disc about 2 cm larger than the pan, so it overhangs the rim. Lay the disc over the top of the warm apples, and press it down gently, tucking the overhang under the apples and down the sides of the pan, so the dough seals the edge and the syrup cannot escape. Prick the dough all over with a fork, so the steam from the syrup can escape and the top does not billow in the oven.
- Bake until the dough is golden and the syrup is set. In a 180°C / 350°F oven, bake the tart for about 25–30 min, until the top of the dough is a shining, even, pale gold, and the edges of the apples, seen through the cracks in the dough, are glossy and set. The dough is baked, the apples are softened, and the syrup is set. Take it out, and let it cool in the pan for 10 min — you want it warm, not hot, and the caramel still loose — it flows as you turn it out, and then sets into a glossy film on the plate.
- Turn it out, in the window of a minute or two. When the pan is warm — you can touch the rim and it is hot, not scalding — put the flat serving plate on top of the pan, hold the two of them together, and turn the whole thing over in one firm, clean move. Wait for five seconds, then lift the pan, and the tart is out, the apples on top, and the caramel falling over them and setting into a glossy film on the plate. That is the whole move: the caramel is loose for a few minutes after it leaves the oven, and then it sets, and the tart you turn out is the tart you serve.
- Serve it, with the caramel on it and a cream beside it. Slice the tart into wedges, while the caramel is still runny, and serve it warm, with a custard, or a cream, or a vanilla, or nothing at all — the caramel is the sauce, and a warm, fresh, buttery-tasting tart is enough on its own.
Common failures
- The tart will not come out of the pan. You let it wait too long, and the caramel set hard against the rim while the pan cooled. The window is the first ten to fifteen minutes after it leaves the oven: turn it out while the pan is still warm and the caramel is still loose enough to release and fall. If the pan is cold you are out of the window, and the tart stays in the pan.
- The apples are a weeping mush and the tart is watery at the base. The variety is too soft, or the apples sat in the syrup too long before the dough went on. A firm, acid apple keeps its slice, and the dough should be laid on while the syrup is still bubbling, sealing the edge before the fruit goes on weeping.
- The pastry base is raw and pale under the apples. The disc did not seal to the rim of the pan and the syrup ran out, or the bake was too short for that much fruit. Press the dough firm against the rim, prick plenty of vent holes, and allow more time: a heavy filling keeps the base from setting, and a tarte pulled the moment the top is brown has a raw middle.
- The top is dark and bitter. The oven is too hot. A tatin bakes around 180°C / 350°F, low, with the fruit cooking slowly under a top that goes evenly pale gold. When the top is dark, the caramel underneath has passed its sweet point too.
Variations & substitutions
- Puff pastry instead of short dough. Most tartes you get served are made with puff: lighter and more buttery, and it comes apart in flakes when you cut it. The short dough is the sturdier, less fussy half of the same move, and it is what this recipe uses.
- A little Calvados. When you take the pan off the heat and it is still bubbling, pour a few tablespoons of Calvados (the apple brandy) over the apples, and it concentrates in the bake. If you are not cooking alcohol, a little vanilla, or a squeeze of lemon into the syrup, does the same job.
- Another fruit. Pears and plums take the same treatment: firm, with a good acid, in the same pan, under the same dough, in the same bake.
What to serve with it
A tatin is served warm, in wedges, while the caramel is still pooling on the plate. The classic thing to put next to it is a scoop of crème fraîche, or a plain custard — the cool against the warm is the whole point of it. By itself it is enough, and the cream is for the table that wants a little more on it.