Tarte Tatin

Makes one 10-inch tart

This apple tart is one of my very favorite things to bake (and eat). I learned the recipe for this French classic, fittingly, when I was living in France. I’d tasted versions of it before, but it wasn’t until I was taught to make it by Anne Willan that I really understood how amazing it could be. The key to this recipe is to cook the caramel until it’s a deep brown, so dark that you think you might be on the verge of totally f&*%ing it up.

At that moment, you quickly lower the heat and add the apples to the pan. The most miraculous thing happens—the juice from the apples stops the caramel from burning and becoming acrid, and, over the next thirty minutes, the apples continue to release their juices while sucking up the caramel. By the time you pull the pan from the stove and add the pastry, the apple halves are jewel-like, mahogany, and the apple juice-fortified caramel is sticky and complex. After making this tart more times than I can count, I’ve noticed that the variety of apple you use makes a difference. Most firm-tart varieties will work, but Granny Smiths seem to get especially mushy, so I avoid those.

The dessert is a showstopper and, I think, handily kicks apple pie to the curb. I like to serve wedges of it topped with tangy crème fraîche. The caramel can make the pastry soggy if it sits for a while, so I recommend eating this on the same day it’s made.

For the dough:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
9 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/4 cup ice-cold water

For the apples:

5 pounds sweet-tart firm apples (about 12), such as Pink Lady or Braeburn (avoid Granny Smiths)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

Homemade Crème Fraîche
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon cultured buttermilk or plain yogurt

Make the dough: Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in
the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the butter pieces are about half the size of a pea. Slowly add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until the dough just comes together.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gather into a ball. Flatten into a disk, then wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days, or freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.

Peel the apples: With a melon baller, scoop out the stem and blossom ends. Halve the apple and use the melon baller to scoop out the cores. Melt the butter in a 10-inch cast-iron or other high-sided ovenproof frying pan over medium heat and add the sugar. Cook without stirring until the mixture begins to brown at its edges, then stir gently and continue cooking until the caramel is a deep golden brown, about 6 minutes more. This takes some courage; you want the caramel to be very dark but not scorched. As it approaches the correct color, reduce the heat to low and put a spoon along the edge of the pan with the bowl of the spoon facing down. Arrange the apple halves in concentric circles, leaning the first apple half against the spoon so it doesn’t topple over. Pack the apples as tightly as possible, cutting some into wedges to fill in the gaps, as they will shrink during cooking.

Increase the heat to medium and cook until the apples begin to exude their juices (this will be fairly obvious, as the level of caramel in the pan will rise to almost halfway up each piece of apple), about 6 minutes, then raise the heat to medium high and cook until the undersides of the apples are deeply caramelized and tender but not mushy and the juices are sticky and thickened, about 10 to 12 minutes more. Using two spoons, turn the apple halves one at a time so the upper sides are now down in the caramel. Continue cooking until this second side is caramelized and almost all the juice has evaporated and what remains in the pan is syrupy, about 10 minutes longer. The apples should be tender but not mushy. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool slightly. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

On a lightly floured work surface with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the chilled dough into a 12-inch circle and trim the edges. Set the pastry on top of the apples, tucking the pastry edges down into the pan, then cut a few steam vents in the pastry. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then invert a large, rimmed plate on top of the tart and flip the tart onto the plate. Let cool until warm (or cool completely and rewarm in a low oven before serving), then cut into wedges and serve with big spoonfuls of crème fraîche.

Make the Crème Fraîche (makes about 1 cup): Though it’s no longer terribly difficult to find crème fraîche at the grocery store (I have even seen it at Costco), making it at home is easy and inexpensive. Tangy and thick, it’s an excellent companion to the tarte tatin.

Combine the cream and buttermilk or yogurt in a clean glass jar. Cover and let stand at room temperature about 10 to 12 hours, until thickened. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.