Tarte Tatin: preparing a classic French upside-down apple pie

Tarte Tatin is a classic French "upside-down" apple pie. Essentially, it is not upside down as it may seem at first. It is called upside down because the filling of caramelized apples is placed in the mold first, which is then covered with a layer of shortcrust pastry on top. And it is baked in this form

The history of Tarte Tatin takes us back to the late 19th century. It was during this time, in a small French town of Lamotte-Beuvron, that while preparing an apple pie at the Hotel Tatin, one of the two owner sisters – Stéphanie Tatin – accidentally forgot to add the dough. To save the dish, she covered the already caramelized apples with a layer of dough, thus baking the pie upside down. The result impressed her and the guests so much that the dessert prepared this way received exclusively positive reviews, and its recipe has since become a classic of French cuisine. So we also decided to try making Tarte Tatin and share in this post what came out of this adventure ;)

For the apple filling and caramel:

4-5 apples (it is best to use firm sour-sweet varieties, such as Antonovka or Granny Smith)zest of half a lemon1 tsp cinnamon50 g butter100 g white sugar100 g brown sugar

First, we decided to prepare the shortcrust pastry, as it needs to "rest" in the refrigerator for about half an hour after kneading.

In a bowl, we mix the sifted flour with a pinch of salt and powdered sugar.

We add diced cold butter, egg yolk, cold water (we took a piece of ice, from which we took very cold water as it melted) and knead the dough until smooth. We form it into a ball, wrap it in cling film, and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting, we move on to the next steps. We peel the apples and remove the cores, cutting them into quarters. We place them in the baking dish to "fit" them, to see if we have enough or not. If not, we add another apple and peel/cut it as well.

We grate the zest of half a lemon.

In a pan over medium heat, we melt the butter, add white and brown sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest.

We carefully, often, and very gently stir the mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved.

When the caramel has reached a uniform brown-golden color, we add the sliced apples. We carefully stir and cook them for 5-7 minutes until they become soft but do not fall apart.

It’s time to assemble the pie. We again place the caramelized apples in the baking dish. We do this very carefully, as the caramel is still hot. We pour the remaining caramel over them.

We take the dough out of the refrigerator, manually flatten it to the desired size. The diameter of the circle should be 2-4 cm larger than the diameter of the mold, so that the edges of the dough can be tucked inside.

Since we were making Tarte Tatin for the first time, we didn’t manage to do it very well and beautifully. As they say, the first pancake is wasted ;) We poke the dough with a fork so that the steam formed during baking can escape.

We preheat the oven to 180 degrees (using convection mode), and bake for 30-35 minutes. Visually, the dough should take on a slightly golden color.

We take the Tarte Tatin out of the oven, let it cool for 5-10 minutes, turn the mold onto a plate, cut, and enjoy;)