Apple Tarte Tatin

Ingredients

• 7 Apples, firm variety, peeled, cored, halved
• ¾ cup Granulated sugar
• 5 tbsp Unsalted butter
• 1 sheet Puff pastry, thawed
• ½ Lemon
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp Kosher salt

Method

1. Toss the apple halves with lemon juice. Use a firm apple — Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Northern Spy. A McIntosh will dissolve.
2. Melt the butter and sugar in the skillet over medium heat and cook, swirling but not stirring, 6-8 minutes until it turns amber. Caramel is done by color, not by time, and it goes from amber to burnt in about twenty seconds.
3. Off the heat, add the vanilla and salt, then pack the apple halves in tightly, rounded side down, in concentric circles. They shrink, so tighter than looks right.
4. Cook over medium-low 15 minutes, basting the tops with the caramel a few times.
5. Lay the pastry over, tuck the edges down inside the pan, cut three steam vents, and bake at 400°F for 28-32 minutes until the pastry is deep golden and puffed.
6. Rest exactly 5 minutes — no more, or the caramel sets and glues it in. Put a plate over the pan and flip in one committed motion, away from yourself. It is hot caramel; use oven mitts and mean it.

Notes

✨ The restaurant touch

Amber, not gold. An underdone caramel gives you a sweet tart; a proper one gives you a bitter edge that makes the whole thing taste like something.

🧒 For the kids

Serve with cold plain yogurt or ice cream. The contrast is most of the pleasure.

🥡 Leftovers

Keeps 2 days at room temperature. Reheat in a 350°F oven to re-crisp the pastry.

Per serving

Computed from USDA FoodData Central values. A planning tool, not medical advice.