Little Ivy Cakes

TARTE TATIN
My new favvvvvv....orite!


Tarte Tatin: An upside-down apple tart where the apples are caramelized in butter and sugar before baking in the frying pan used to caramelize the apples. Tarte Tatin has to be made with firm dessert apples: cooking apples will not do as they mush down into a purée. I used granny smith which held up just fine but, is traditionally made with Golden Delicious apples. I thought that Tarte Tatin was only to describe the french apple dessert but, Tarte Tatin can also be made with pears, peaches, pineapple, tomatoes, or vegetable like onion. I experimented with the left over crust I had with carrots and shallot. The tart tatin turned out great as a side dish. See HERE.

Some HISTORY: (This is the interesting story I copied from Wikipedia):Tradition says that the Tarte Tatin was first created by accident at the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, France in 1898. The hotel was run by two sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin. Stéphanie Tatin, who did most of the cooking, was overworked one day. She started to make a traditional apple pie but left the apples cooking in butter and sugar for too long. Smelling the burning, she tried to rescue the dish by putting the pastry base on top of the pan of apples, quickly finishing the cooking by putting the whole pan in the oven. After turning out the upside down tart, she was surprised to find how much the hotel guests appreciated the dessert. An alternative version of the tart's origin is offered on the Brotherhood of the Tarte Tatin website, according to which Stéphanie baked a caramelised apple tart upside-down by mistake. Regardless she served her guests the unusual dish hot from the oven and a classic was born.

The Tarte became a signature dish serves at the Hotel Tatin and the recipe spread through the Solgne region. Its lasting fame is probably due to the restaurateur Louis Vaudable, who tasted the tart on a visit to Sologne and made the dessert a permanent fixture on the menu at his restaurant Maxim's of Paris.

I really fell in love with this dessert. It was really super good and just makes the Apple pie look like an amateure. Well, OK, I guess the classic apple pie can hold her own. :) Here's the recipe.

Tarte Tatin Minis Recipe for 8 (6 ounce ramekins) Crust
1/2 cup + 2 tbs salted butter, cut into cubes and chilled in freezer
1 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 cup flour
3-6 tbs ice water

Instructions
-Whisk sugar, flour, and spices together in a bowl and place in freezer for 30 minutes along with butter, the bowl and blade to your food-processor, and water (all separate).
A tip from Molly was: the colder everything is, the flakier and more tender the crust will be.
-Pulse butter and dry ingredients until the largest pieces of butter are no bigger than peas.
-Add ice water 1 tbs at a time, processing just until the dough starts to come together(it won't be a nice smooth ball because you don't want to over-process the dough.
-Pat into a ball and quickly roll out the dough to be about 1/4 inch. Take the ramekin you will be using and cut out the round shapes you need. Repeat with dough until you have enough rounds for however many minis you will be making. Cover them in plastic wrap with a layer in between each dough round. Store in fridge until ready to use. *I made 14(60z) ramekins and had to double the dough recipe. Plus I made cut-out fall leaves to go on top.

Granny Smith Filling:
1/2 cup salted butter
1 cup sugar
5-6 Granny Smith apples quartered(see below)
1 vanilla bean
vanilla for sprinkling on the bottom of each ramekin

Instructions
-Place a piece of foil onto a cookie sheet and then place your ramekins on the foil. Rub ramekins with butter. Then sprinkle some vanilla extract and vanilla bean in the bottom of the ramekin.

-On medium heat melt butter and then whisk in sugar. Let turn a golden colour.

-Then add the cut apples and let caramelize(it takes about 10 minutes)

-With tongs, place 3-4 caramelized apples pieces upside down in ramekin.
try to fit them nicely and squeeze them in together with out mushing them up too much.

-Then place your pastry crust-round on top and bake in the oven until the crust is golden (about 20 minutes)
-Take out of oven and let cool 10 minutes.
-Run a knife around the inside edges of the ramekins and Invert pie out of the ramekin onto a serving try with the others.

Serve warm a la mode-Can't do without the vanilla ice cream.:)

THE END!