23 June 2012

Apple Tarte Tatin with Salted Caramel Sauce



This is one of my favourite desserts and if you like puddings I am sure it could very quickly become one of yours too.  Golden puff pastry, soft caramelised fruit and chewy little bits of caramel; this really is a heavenly dessert. It was allegedly invented by the Tatin sisters in France.  As the story goes one of them was making an apple tart but left it in the oven a little too long.  To save the day she turned it upside down...et voila Tart Tatin and a crowd pleaser! 



There is caramel making but just take your time and you will be fine. Along with a good dollop of whipped cream  or vanilla ice cream and to take it to a whole new level of decadence I highly recommend whipping up a batch of Nigella’s Salted Caramel Sauce.  It can be whipped up in a few moments & you can find the recipe here.  Go on....you will thank me, I promise.  This would also be amazing just warmed and drizzled over some vanilla ice cream, or layered with whipped cream between meringues, or you could just eat it with a spoon....
Apple* Tarte Tatin with Salted Caramel Sauce, inspired by various incarnations from all over the place
*Experiment! Quince, peaches, plums, apricots, pears....
Serves 6- 8 

Ingredients
500g puff pastry
5 small eating apples
100g golden caster sugar
100ml water
1 vanilla pod, halved lengthways, seeds,scraped out
50g butter, cubed
A bowl of acidulated water*
*3/4 fill a medium sized bowl with water and add the juice of  a lemon.

Preheat your oven to 190C/375F
Roll out your puff pastry between 2 pieces of baking paper until it is about half a centimetre thick and large enough to cover either and oven proof frying pan or tart tin, and set aside.
Peel the apples, halve them horizontally and use a teaspoon to get rid of the seeds and core.  Once peeled and cored place them in the acidulated water, it will just stop any browning.
Place the ovenproof or regular frying pan on a medium heat and add the sugar, water, vanilla seeds and pod. Let the sugar dissolve and cook until the mixture forms a light caramel. Don’t touch or taste hot caramel, it is very, very hot and can burn really badly.  Once the caramel is golden add the apples and gently stir to coat the apples in the caramel. Cook for 10 minutes and then add the butter, quickly and gently give it a mix to melt the butter.  If your frying pan is oven proof just place the pastry over the top and tuck it down at the edges, carefully with a wooden spoon to avoid burning yourself with the scalding hot caramel.  If your frying pan is not oven proof carefully and gently transfer the apples and caramel to a tart tin and top with pastry.



Bake the tarte tatin for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden, with crispy caramelly pieces bubbling up from under the edges. Take it out of the oven and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.  Next comes the fun part, the turning out, again just be careful with all that hot caramel.  Grab your serving plate or a board larger than your pan and put an oven glove on to protect the arm holding the board. Place the board or plate on top of the pan, then carefully turn it out.   Leave for a few moments to allow the caramel to settle and cool a little.  Drizzle the whole tart with some of Nigella’s Salted Caramel Sauce and serve with generous dollops of whipped cream.


Well there was none left of the large tarte tatin but a little left over pastry and another apple made a couple of baby ones that you can see in the photos.





Sweet caramelised buttery apples, golden puff pastry all drizzled with salted caramel sauce and whipped cream....I don't think I really need to say anymore!




This is also my entry for this months Sweet New Zealand, this month being hosted by Shirleen over at Sugar & Spice & All Things Nice.

If you like this you might like this Brown Buttered Apple and Rosemary Cake
One year ago Pesto Pesto

 Enjoy!

6 comments:

  1. One of my favourites too, nothing better than baked apples and caramel.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Alli....can't recommend the salted caramel sauce enough!!

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  2. I really should not be reading this on an empty stomach...pure deliciousness.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks & Oh yes Hannah it was terribly good!

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  3. This looks so delicious! I love almost anything with the word caramel in it!!

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