I had never even heard of “Apple Tatin” until my friend asked me to make it for her for her birthday. Of course I couldn’t refuse and started digging around for a recipe and made a great find!

This is such an easy dessert to make and its all cooked in one pot! I used a recipe from the Smitten Kitchen  blog which worked really well.
 
 

 
 

Apple Tatin

Serves 6

Ingredients:

6 medium apples (I used fuji, granny smith and golden delicious)

Juice of half a lemon


6 tablespoons / 6 oz butter


1 1/3 cup sugar,

Divided 
puffed pastry chilled ( store bought)


9-inch ovenproof skillet,
 
METHOD:

• Peel apples, halve and core apples.

• Once cored, cut lengthwise into quarters (i.e. four pieces per apple) and cut a bevel along their inner edge, which will help their curved exteriors stay on top as they rest on this edge.

• Toss apple chunks with the lemon juice and 1/3 cup of the sugar.

• Set aside for 15 minutes; this will help release the apple’s juices.

• Melt butter in your skillet over medium heat.

• Sprinkle in remaining 1 cup sugar and whisk it over the heat until it becomes the palest of caramels ( about 10 minutes).

• Don’t worry if the caramel has not thickened – it will as you cook the apples.

• Off the heat, add the apples to the skillet, arranging them rounded sides down in one layer.

• Lay any additional apple wedges rounded sides down in a second layer, starting from the center.

• Return the pan to the stove and cook in the caramel for another 20 to 25 minutes over moderately high heat.

• With a spoon, regularly press down on the apples and baste them caramel juices from the pan.

• If it seems that your apples in the center are cooking faster, swap them with ones that are cooking more slowly, and rotate apples that are cooking unevenly 180 degrees.

• The apples will shrink a bit and by the end of the cooking time, your second layer of apples might end up slipping into the first — this is fine.

• Preheat oven to 400.

• Roll out your puffed pastry to a 9-inch circle and trim if needed.

• Cut four vents in pastry.

• Remove skillet from heat again, and arrange pastry round over apples.

• Tuck it in around the apples for nicer edges later.

• Bake until the pastry is puffed and golden brown, about 20 minutes.

• Once baked, use potholders to place a plate or serving dish (larger in diameter than the pan) over the pasty and with a deep breath and a quick prayer unmold the pastry and apples at once onto the plate.

• If any apples stubbornly remain behind in the pan, nudge them out with a spatula.

• Serve with a dollop of whipped crème fraîche, or lightly sweetened whipped cream and eat immediately.