Tarte TatinUpside Down Apple TartThis wonderful Tarte Tatin was first made by accident in the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron in France in 1898! The hotel was run by two sisters, Stephanie and Caroline Tatin. Stephanie was overworked one day and was making an apple pie when she left the apples cooking too long and they started to burn. In trying to save the pie, she just put the pastry on top of the pan of apples and put it in the oven to cook. To everyones amazement her guests loved the new dessert and it became a classic. What a wonderful story. And what a truly wonderful dish she has given us!
Ingredients • 6 Dessert apples such as Golden Delicious or cooking apples • 250gms (1 1/2 cups) sugar • 120gms (1 stick) melted butter • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 4 tablespoons castor sugar • 3 1/2 ozs chilled butter • 1 egg beaten with 1teaspoon water • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract • A baking dish about 2 - 2 1/2 ins in depth
Method
• Place the flour, sugar, baking powder and butter into a baking bowl. • Rub the butter into the mixture with the finger tips until it resembles bread crumbs. • Mix in the egg and vanilla extract until it forms a dough. • Place the dough on the baking board and with the heel of your hand, press down and push the pastry away from you. • The dough will be quite sticky but this is how it should be. • Place the dough in a plastic bag and refrigerate for a few hours.
• Cut into thick slices. • Butter the baking dish thickly on the base. • Sprinkle half the sugar in the base. • Place a third of the apples over the base of the dish. • Put a third of the melted butter over the apples. • Repeat with a layer of apples and butter. • Finally repeat with a layer of apples and butter and sprinkle top with sugar.
• Tuck the pastry into the inside edges of the dish. • Bake in the lower part of a preheated oven, medium hot, for about 45 minutes. • If the pastry starts to brown too quickly, cover the top with aluminium foil.
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