Tarte Tatin: The Real Recipe

Tart made with melting and caramelized apples, the Tarte Tatin has become a great classic of French pastry. We invite you to discover the true recipe of the Tatin sisters' tart.

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients needed to make a Tarte tatin for 6 people:

For the filling
- about 8 reinette apples
- 150g of butter
- 150g of sugar

For the pastry
- 200g of flour
- 100g of butter
- 25g of sugar
- a pinch of salt
- one egg

Dough preparation

The Tarte tatin can be made with shortcrust pastry or sweet pastry. Here are the steps to prepare homemade sweet pastry.

1) Mix the flour with the sugar and salt.
2) Cut the butter into small pieces and crumble it with your fingertips to obtain a coarse sand-like texture.
3) Add the whole egg, knead quickly, and form a ball of dough.
4) Refrigerate the dough.

Preparation of apples

Tarte Tatin is an upside-down tart where the pastry is placed over previously caramelized apples.

1) Peel the apples, remove the seeds, and cut them into quarters.
2) Take a fireproof cake pan (like Tefal) and place it directly on the heat.
3) Make a caramel at the bottom of the pan by heating sugar and butter over high heat. Be careful: watch the color because the caramel should be light blonde but not too dark.
4) Off the heat, place the apple quarters on the caramel.
5) Cover the pan with aluminum foil and put it back on the heat for 5 to 10 minutes so that the apples start to cook and soak up the caramel.
6) Roll out the shortcrust pastry. When the apples have cooled, place the pastry on top, tuck the edges inside the pan, and lightly prick the pastry with a fork.

Cooking

1) Bake the tarte tatin in your oven at 200°C (Gas mark 7) until the pastry is well cooked and the caramel rises up the sides of the mold.
2) Unmold the tart while hot, being careful not to burn yourself.

Did you know?

The Tarte Tatin was created in Lamotte-Beuvron in Sologne by sisters Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin, who ran a restaurant there.

While preparing an apple tart, one of the sisters is said to have overturned the dish. She then salvaged the upside-down tart onto a baking sheet before putting it back in the oven. This mishap is believed to have given birth to one of the most famous French desserts.