Apple Tarte Tatin-The French Apple Pie
Are you looking to try out a new pie recipe? I’m always looking to try something new and today i’m going for a French classic: Tarte Tatin…the french version of Apple Pie! This is the perfect dessert to serve when you have company. This dessert comes together easily and will impress anyone that you serve it to. Basically this is the apple pie version of pineapple upside down cake.
For this dish the ingredients are simple:
- Butter and sugar come together to caramelize the apples
- Apples, peeled, cored and sliced. You can quarter the apples for a rustic tart or slice thinly for a prettier presentation.
- Crust–use your favorite pie crust or to make it even easier use frozen puff pastry! Today I’m using puff pastry-I like the flakiness of the crust with the caramelized apples.
If you open any french pastry cookbook the chances are that you will find a basic recipe for Tarte Tatin. I’m combining several favorites together to make this one today. The “twist” that I’ve included today is to flavor the butter with chai tea! One of my favorite cookbook authors, Dorie Greenspan, adds vanilla tea to her tarte tartan in her cookbook, Paris Sweets. I didn’t have vanilla tea in my pantry but I did have chai tea. I love the spicy flavors and they pair perfectly with apples.
Go impress your friends with this simple but stunning classic french ‘pie’!
- Puff Pastry (one pre-made frozen sheet)
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1 bag chai tea
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Juice of ½ lemon
- I ⅓ cup sugar
- 6 to 8 medium apples, any sweet firm apple. Peeled and quartered or sliced (my preference is sliced)
- I make this recipe in a cast iron skillet because I can prepare everything in the same pan. The cast iron skillet can bemused on the stove and oven and does a great job of caramelizing sugar. If you don't have an oven proof skilled you can prepare the apples on the stovetop and then transfer to a baking dish to finish in the oven.
- Roll puff pastry until it is ⅛" thick and about one inch larger than the pan that you will use for baking.
- Use a fork to prick over the entire surface. Put the puff pastry on parchment paper or plastic wrap and return to the refrigerator until ready for baking.
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Prepare apples for baking. Peel, core and slice apples. Place in a bowl with lemon juice and ⅓ cup sugar. This will help pull out some of the juices and help make the finished pie have a thicker carmel coating.