La Tarte Tatin

There is something about baked apples that just takes me back to a comforting childhood memory; the warm aroma of caramelized fruit permeating the house on a cloudy afternoon.
This French pie is delicate, wholesome, and light, and elevates any day with solace. Take it to a friend’s for afternoon tea, or dress it up and pair it with a touch of heavy cream for dessert.

For my visual learners out there, here is the video of the step-by-step recipe. It is all in French, so for your convenience, I have translated the steps below.
Avec plaisir! 

🇫🇷 Pour mes copains Français, cliquez ici pour accéder à la recette originale.

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TIME: 2 hours (1h cooking, 30min-1h prep)

SERVES: 4 people 

INGREDIENTS

• Dough
  166.5g flour (1 cup of flour) 
  53.3g water ( 3.3 tbsp) 
  50g butter (3.3 tbsp)
  1 pinch of salt 
  

• Caramel and toppings
  6 apples (crisp and sweet apples work best) 
  50g butter (3.3 tbsp)
  1 tsp vanilla extract 
  50g white sugar (3 tbsp) 

COOKING UTENSILS 

1 round cake pan 
1 vegetable peeler 
1 apple corer (optional but better if you have one)
1 water glass
1 mixing bowl
1 rolling pin 
1 serving plate (the pie is juicy so make sure that the plate has some depth) 

INSTRUCTIONS 

1. Preheat your oven: 340 F or 170 Celsius.
   
   

2. Prepare your apples
   Peel the skin and remove the core of your apples. Cut your apples in half.
   If you have an apple corer, then you will have a prettier presentation. If you do not own an apple-corer (which was my case), just do your best. It will taste good no matter what.
   Leave your apples on your cutting board for now.
   
   

3. Caramel and toppings
   Place the cake pan on the stove over low heat and add the butter.
   When melted, add the sugar and vanilla.
   Don’t touch or taste the caramel without it being absolutely cool. It WILL burn you, it’s hot caramel.
   
   

4. When the caramel turns brown, add the halved apples to the cake pan in their tall position. Keep in mind that the pie will be flipped and what is now at the bottom will be served as the top, so make it pretty (people usually make a flower-like arrangement, watch the video for a better idea of what it could look like, or search the internet for alternatives).
   Cook the apples in the caramel on the stove for 20 min on low heat.

5. Make the dough
   In a water glass, add the water and the salt. Let the salt dissolve.
   In a mixing bowl, add the flour and the cold butter, mixing them together with your fingers until creating a shortbread crust.
   Add the water to the mixing bowl and make a ball with the dough, without working it much.
   
   

6. On a floured surface, roll the dough with a rolling pin (or a Hydro Flask if you do not own rolling pin). Shape it in a circle, as thin as 0.2 inches. This will cover your cake pan and be tucked into it.
   
   

7. When the apples are done, remove them from the stove.
   Place the dough on top of the apples, and tuck the sides of the dough in the dish, between the apples and the pan (I used the back of a tablespoon to do the tucking).
   Make a small hole in the center of your pie, and place it in the oven.
   Cook for 1 hour.
   
   

8. After an hour, get the pie out of the oven and flip it into your serving plate (put the serving plate on top of the cake pan, holding both with oven mitts, and quickly flip the cake pan on top of the serving plate. Watch out, it is juicy).
   Serve warm-ish with a dollop of heavy cream or Greek yogurt on the side, sweetened with a little dribble of juices from the pie.
   That’s it, enjoy!
   
   
   Let me know how it goes!