Tarte Tatin is a classic French dessert found in many of Paris’ bistros and brasseries. Typically served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, Tarte Tatin is a blissful combination of warm caramelized apples and puff pastry. And we haven’t even gotten to the good news yet… it’s easy to make!
Our recipe makes six tarts but you can scale up by simply doubling or tripling the recipe. Using store-bought puff pastry makes this a cinch to whip up any day of the week. RockitTM apples are the perfect size to make mini Tartes Tartin using muffin tins. Easy peasy RockitTM squeazy!
Authors: Meg Raines & Beth Williams
Photographer: Meg Raines
Yield: 6 mini tarts
Ingredients
6 RockitTM apples, peeled, cored and quartered
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
Juice of half a lemon (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
1 roll of puff pastry dough*
1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C.
2. Grease 6 a 6-cup muffin tin. Do not use paper liners, this will ruin your dessert.
3. First, you need to make the caramel. Place 1/3 cup sugar in a small heavy-bottomed pan, shake to distribute evenly, and place over medium-low heat. Do not heat pan before adding the sugar.
4. This next step requires some patience, but it’s very important. Keep the sugar over medium-low heat and wait for it to melt. The process will likely take up to 20 minutes and it may be a while before you see any signs of melting. Do not stir! Eventually the sugar will melt and start to turn a dark golden brown color.
5. While you wait for the caramel to form, unroll the puff pastry sheet and cut 6 circles the size of the top of your muffin cups. It’s ok if the circles are slightly bigger but they shouldn’t be smaller.
6. Once all of the sugar has completely melted, take the pan off the heat and quickly stir in the lemon juice. Be very careful as the lemon juice will spit upon contact with the hot caramel.
7. Immediately distribute the caramel evenly between the 6 muffin cups.
8. Place 4 pieces of RockitTM apple in each muffin cup. The pieces on the bottom should be placed rounded side down.
9. Drop 1/2 teaspoon of butter and sprinkle 1 teaspoon of sugar in each muffin cup.
10. Take the dough circles and use them to cover each muffin cup, tucking the edges of the dough into the cups.
11. Use a fork to make small holes in each of the dough circles.
12. Place tarts in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the pastry dough is golden-brown and the apples are very soft.
13. Remove from oven. Gently press down on the tops of the dough to make sure it adheres to the apples. Be careful when you do this as bubbly hot caramel may come up the sides
14. Let sit 5-10 minutes to cool down. Tarte Tatin should be served quite warm rather than piping hot.
15. Use a large spoon to remove each of the tarts from the muffin cups. Place tarts dough-side down with apples facing up. If any of the apple pieces fall off, just put them back on top. No problem!
16. There will be some caramel left in the bottom of the muffin cups. Use a teaspoon to drizzle it on and around the tarts for a pretty presentation.
17. Serve right away with a scoop of quality vanilla ice cream. Bon appétit!
Notes
* You will not need the whole roll of dough for the recipe. One roll should be sufficient if you are doubling the recipe.