Easy Tarte Tatin

This is a bit of a cheat’s recipe, but everyone needs a helping hand now and then! This Easy Tarte Tatin only requires the effort of a little peeling, melting and arranging. Then it’s a quick puff-up in the oven before tipping it on to  plate, to reveal the gorgeous, glistening caramelised apples sitting on a bed of golden puff pastry.

The traditional recipe calls for an iron skillet pan that you can use both to caramelise the butter and sugar and then to transfer to the oven once you’ve topped it off with puff pastry.

But my short cuts really came about because I needed to make a tart that was large enough for lots of people, so a well greased, standard roasting tin seemed a good option. Also, life’s too short to make your own puff pastry, just buy a good quality one – I make sure I’ve always got some to hand in the freezer.

This method would work just as well with smaller quantities in a standard quiche or flan dish.

5 Steps To An Easy Tarte Tatin

1. First wash, quarter and core 4 – 5 good crunchy and tangy eating apples (no need to peel). I used homegrown apples, but try to use local ones rather than imported.
2. Gently melt 3 generous tablespoons of butter, and the same amount of light soft muscovado into the roasting pan,  tilt the pan to make sure the buttery mixture trickles across and into the corners.
3. Cut each apple  quarter into 3 slices and lay them in slightly overlapping rows, directly onto the buttery sugar base. Then sprinkle the apples with cinnamon.
4. Roll out the pastry and lay it directly over the apples like a blanket. Bake in a medium hot oven (180c0  for 20 -25 mins, or until the pastry has puffed up golden brown.
5. When it’s done, release the edges with a flat knife all around, and then swiftly turn out the tarte onto the serving dish, before any caramelised juices have a chance to firm up.

Ingredients 

4- 5 local apples depending on their size.

3 generous tablespoons of butter.

3  light soft muscovado sugar.

Generous sprinkle of cinnamon.

1 pack of good quality puff pastry.