This autumn the honey crisp apples from Michigan have been particular delicious. With their distinctive refreshing crisp and juicy texture and the perfect balance of sweet and tart taste, they are one of our favorite treats of the season.
After enjoying biting many of them for breakfast and afternoon snack, I had to test them for a traditional French dessert: la tarte Tatin. They turned out to be a perfect match. Hoping you enjoy trying them in the recipe below.
Ingredients:
1-1,3 Kg or 2-2.5 lbs organic honey crisp apples
100g or 1/2 cup organic cane sugar
60 g or 4 Tbsp unsalted European butter
1 sheet of Dufour puff pastry (found in the frozen section at Wholefoods)
Extra flour for dusting.
Preheat oven to 425F
Start by prepping the apples. Cut them in quarters, core them and peel them.
Then cut each quarter in half and set aside.
Meanwhile place the butter, cut in small pieces, in a heavy 10″ cast iron pan.
Melt the butter on medium heat.
Add the sugar at once to the melted butter.
Mix gently with a wooden spatula.
The butter and sugar will start caramelizing. Lower the heat to medium-low.
Continue cooking until the caramel turns a nice hazelnut brown color.
Carefully place the apple slices, inner side up, on top of the caramel. Be sure to keep your fingertips well above the burning hot caramel.
Continue arranging the slices nicely until the bottom of the pan is completely covered.
Then fit the remaining slices on top, in between the bottom slices, inner side facing down.
Keep cooking about 20 minutes, until the apples soften gently and the caramel bubbles through the apples. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool slightly.
Remove the frozen puff pastry from the refrigerator (I defrost it overnight in the refrigerator)
Place it on a flour dusted surface.
Unfold gently and discard paper, while dusting with flour to prevent stickiness.
Using light strokes, brush off the excess flour.
Roll out the dough into a larger rectangle.
Place a 10″-plate in the center to use as a pattern and cut around.
Using a knife, cut 1 to 2 cm around the plate.
Roll the dough onto the rolling pin. Use a pastry scraper if the dough sticks to the surface.
Roll it out over the apples onto the pan. If the pan is too hot, set it aside until it is cool enough to handle.
The puff pastry will overhang over the sides of the pan.
Tuck in the dough between the apples and the sides of the pan by lifting it with one hand on one side….
…and tucking it with the other hand.
Continue all the way around until the apples are completely covered. Place the pan in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.
When the top is golden brown, remove the pan from the oven and let it cool about 10 minutes.
Pull a serving dish slightly larger than the 10″ pan.
Place the pan on top of a folded kitchen towel so that both ends of the towel overextend on either side of the pan.
Reverse the serving dish so it fits on top of the pan.
Hold the towel around firmly with both hands.
With a firm and rapid movement, flip the pan on top and the serving dish on bottom.
Lift the pan away from the serving dish. Some of the apple pieces will have fallen out of place.
Just set them back where they belong. You can enjoy with ice cream, crème fraiche or whipped cream with a extra drizzle of salted caramel sauce (posted January 11 2014).
Saveur Chic 